The Enemy Below
by A-LionGleek
Summary: The Titans have been called to save Atlantis from the newly resurfaced Trident. However, when an underwater battle they get caught in on the way sends them off course, the location they find themselves in afterward shows that Trident could yet be the least of their problems.
1. Prologue

**Hey everyone! I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and are looking forward to Christmas or whatever other holiday you celebrate around this time of the year! All that in mind, hope you are ready for yet more Teen Titanic awesomeness (that is hopefully better then my previous multi-chapter TT story), because here's my latest Teen Titans story! Yep, having decided I've waited long enough (and to JUST THIS ONCE forgo my policy of waiting for two reviews prior to my next posting), I shall now post the beginning of my next story! Here's to hoping you read, enjoy, and review (seriously, I may have let my usual rule slide this time, but I'm not gonna guarantee such a thing happening a 2nd time)!**

 **A/N: But first, just to remind you all, I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else DC-based. Believe me, if I owned DC, the DCEU would have been a million times better then it currently is (hopeful comeback in the near future notwithstanding) from the get go, and there would be a lot of improvements on the comic book side (particularly the removal of several executives and writers that for now I shall not name). But this is not the place for me to rant about DC's screw ups and how I'd improve things if I were in charge. No. This is a place for you all to enjoy my newest story! Let's get on with that, shall we? ^_^**

 **Prologue:**

The lone figure stood, his face devoid of emotion and his right hand clenched tightly around his weapon as he observed his army at the base of the cliff he stood upon. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of the soldiers under his command training and working in the relative darkness of the cave system. The army that he currently had positioned below him was hardly the one he would have preferred. In fact, if it were entirely up to him, he'd gladly cast away the forces he was currently observing in favor of the far worthier army he'd had by his side several years prior. But for the sake of the ally he currently worked with, he'd been forced to give up his former worthier army. Now, all he could do was grudgingly accept the new army that his ally had provided for him. But despite it being necessary to do so, he certainly didn't have to like it.

He took a deep breath. Now was not the time to lose his temper. It didn't matter whether the army he had was one that he would have personally preferred or not. What mattered was that he had an army at all. Even an army you hated was better to have on your side than no army whatsoever; at least if the army you hated having on your side was competent enough to be useful despite the hate. And this army was indeed competent enough to be useful. His ally had been quite insistent on that being the case, and the training the soldiers were currently taking part in gave him no reason to believe that the ally had been lying.

He nodded his head. As much as he disliked the army he currently had, he was smart enough to know that these soldiers would at least serve the necessary purpose that had been placed upon them. And once his goal had been achieved, he could easily decide what to do with them from there. But now, it was best for him to let them continue to train. He himself had other things to do. He turned and walked deeper into the caverns. He needed to talk with the ally who'd made his current effort at fulfilling his long desired goal possible.

As the lone figure trekked further down the tunnel that lead to his ally's chamber, he thought long and hard about how the ally in question had behaved over their entire partnership the last few years. His assistance had been valuable, there was no doubt about that, and so far, the ally had yet to let him down. But at the same time, the ally was also rather guarded and difficult to get to know. The ally had hinted that he'd been greatly betrayed in the past and wished to be cautious in the event that this current alliance in any way went south. Whether this past betrayal had caused the ally's current behavior or this very behavior caused that betrayal was something that the lone figure still couldn't help but wonder. Then he thought of how he himself was entirely willing and likely to betray his own allies whenever it suited him. Perhaps the ally's current behavior wasn't such a bad idea.

He reached the entrance to his ally's chamber. He took a moment to examine the ornate circular hatchway that had been installed upon it. Then he pounded his gray fist upon the door. The sound of inhuman snarling split the air, followed by the sound of hissing and jolts of electricity.

"Keep him calm!" a voice bellowed. "We can't have him rampaging around!"

The figure tightened his grip on his weapon. This voice in particular was one he still felt uncomfortable hearing. "To think that this voice would still haunt me even after all these years," he thought to himself.

After a while, the snarling quieted down, as did the electrical shocks. The figure heard footsteps. They came to a stop on the other side of the hatchway. "Who dares to enter?"

Gritting his teeth, the figure responded. "It is I, Trident. I must speak with your master."

There was a pause, the figure on the other side of the hatchway seeming to consider what he'd just been told. Then a different voice spoke up from within the chamber. "Let him in," said this other voice, one that Trident recognized as that of the ally he'd come to visit. "You know how rarely he visits me in my chamber. Whatever he wishes to speak to me about, it is obviously important."

There was another brief pause. "As you wish master." The other figure seemed to step aside, and then the door to the hatchway moved aside, granting Trident entry.

He entered, his eyes narrowing upon seeing the large glowing circular mechanical device that he knew to contain the ally he'd come to visit. He stepped forward to the machine, getting down on his knees before it. "This is ridiculous," he thought to himself. "I am going to take over as king of Atlantis! A king shouldn't have to kneel before anyone!" But kneel he did, laying his trident down on the ground to his right. "We need to talk."

"You made that quite clear outside."

It took all of Trident's willpower not to explode in anger at this comment. "I need to know for certain that I can trust you with the portion of our army that you want me to leave with you."

"That old news again? Come now, we've gone over this. Let it go."

"I insist." Trident clenched his fists. "As valuable as you have proven, that still doesn't change the fact that you've hardly given me any other reason to trust you to not have some sort of ulterior motive behind your assistance. And don't you dare think I've forgotten how your valuable aid mysteriously stopped coming to me while I was working with that foolish gathering of surface dweller criminals."

"You know perfectly well that we had a deal at that time. And I remember quite clearly the exact terms. You were to have your fun on the surface world and devote your time to attempting conquest there while I kept myself busy with continuing what we started down here beneath the waves. And before you try to complain about my not coming immediately to your rescue immediately after you got frozen with the rest of those surface dwellers, let alone during the time immediately before you were frozen, need I remind you that an alliance requires mutual communication on both sides for it to be helpful in that way? You never contacted me the entire time you were playing games with those surface dwellers. And even if that weren't the case, then correct me if I'm wrong, but you were hardly in any position to get any distress calls down to me when you were frozen, now were you?"

Trident gritted his teeth, fighting to keep his cool. "I will concede that you have a point." He leaned forward. "Nonetheless, it would make things infinitely easier for both of us if you would assure me once more that you have no designs to stab me in the back and use the portion you wish for me to leave with you for any agenda of your own you may have that goes against my own interests."

The ally sighed within the mechanical containment device. "Fine," he spat. "I promise on Poseidon's name that you will not regret leaving me here with your soldiers. Satisfied?"

Trident growled, not pleased with how swiftly his ally had responded, but held back from retorting. He _really_ didn't want to make things difficult by angering his ally. "Yes," he grumbled.

"You don't sound like you're satisfied."

"I. Am. Satisfied. Enough," Trident hissed. He clenched his fists again, fighting to avoid snatching up his trident and blasting his ally with it. "Is that enough to please you?"

The ally seemed to consider the question. "I suppose it can be."

Trident nodded, and stood up. "I shall leave you now. I have training to oversee."

He had just started walking back towards the hatchway, trident in hand, when his ally's voice asked him one last question. "When do you plan to leave for the attack?"

Trident paused, and turned his head to face the mechanical containment device. "Within the next week," he responded curtly. "Atlantis still doesn't yet know my current whereabouts, but they are nonetheless more concerned with other matters rather then the possibility of me returning. By the end of the next three days, the army you have provided me will have had more than sufficient training." He nodded his head. "Yes, the time will be soon that I leave to once again wage war against my former home." He tightened his grip around his trident and lifted his left fist up to his face. "This time, I will not be stopped. Atlantis _will_ be mine."

 **And just like that, the newest 'episode' of the A-LionGleek fanon Teen Titans season 6 begins! Is it off to a good start so far? I certainly hope so! Again, here's me hoping you read, review, and enjoy! Remember, in order for me to allow the 1st official (non-prologue) chapter of this story to be posted, I require an exact minimum of 2 reviews (I MEAN IT THIS TIME!). And again, zero flames are allowed. Constructively critical is the maximum amount of negativity I will allow in reviews for my stories. Get that? Got that? Good. Have fun everyone!**

 **Coming up Next: In Jump City, a seemingly ordinary quiet day gains the chance to turn out to not be so quiet when the founding Titans get an unexpected visit from two Titans East friends of theirs that leads to them being made aware of a situation soon to unfold in Atlantis that they all could prove helpful in resolving. Sound worth a read? I certainly hope so!**


	2. An Unexpected Visit

**Hey everyone! I hope you are all ready for yet more Teen Titanic awesomeness, because here's a new chapter! In this official first chapter of this 'episode' (discounting the prologue), a seemingly quiet day for the Titans quickly gains the chance to become not so quiet when a visit from Aqualad and Terra brings them news of a situation about to unfold at Atlantis that they could prove helpful in resolving. Sound worth a read? I certainly hope so! Onward with the fic!**

 **A/N: But first, let me remind you all that I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC-based. NOW onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 1:**

 **An Unexpected Visit**

It was an ordinary quiet day at Titans Tower in Jump City, California. In fact, considering how almost an entire week had passed since the last high profile crime they had to stop in Jump City had occurred, Robin honestly felt like it was seeming like it was a little _too_ quiet. Not that he was going to complain very much about it. After all, just the previous week he and the titans had gone on an epic adventure in outer space. And the week before that, they had undergone an unexpectedly high dosage of drama for Valentine's Day. All in all, as wary as he was, he was content to allow this day to continue to unfold quietly long enough for the entire day to serve as a well deserved break for the team.

The other titans were similarly taking advantage of the unexpected break time from crime fighting. Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing Super Ninja Fury. Raven was reading a book. Starfire, meanwhile, was playing with her pet Silkie, who seemed to be quite enjoying himself. At the sound of Beast Boy and Cyborg starting to get somewhat overly passionate in their game playing, the boy wonder rolled his eyes and resumed his work on cleaning the dishes.

Part of him was tempted to leave this task for later and do something more leisurely and fun like what his friends were doing. But at the same time, he'd always been an overly responsible individual, and he'd also felt it would be nice to do it for Starfire today despite it being her turn to do the dishes this week. Besides, he could always do something fun later that day. In fact, he already planned to drop by the gym to take part in a casual workout routine immediately after he finished his current work in washing the dishes.

"I am so going to get more points than you this time!"

"In your dreams grass stain!"

Robin sighed, and shook his head. "Here we go again," he whispered to himself.

Raven similarly rolled her eyes at Cyborg and Beast Boy's comments. "Boys," she thought to herself.

Beast Boy and Cyborg continued playing, completely absorbed now in their fun.

"Booyah! In the lead!"

"Not for long!"

"Oh no you don't!"

"Oh heck yeah!"

"Oh I'm gonna get this one! I'm gonna get this one!"

"Almost, almost."

They defeated the last ninja squadron for the level, ending it. Then the results popped up. It was a draw.

"Seriously?!"

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

"For once neither of you win, what an improvement."

The two gamers directed a withering glare at Raven, who merely raised her eyebrow.

Robin rolled his eyes, and placed the last of the dishes into the dishwasher. "The sooner I get away from this incoming drama fest, the better."

Starfire, however, managed to turn her head towards Raven and the gamers just in time to catch a glimpse of something out the window from the corner of her eye. She looked towards the window, and her eyes widened. "Friends," she said. "Look out the window."

All four of her fellow titans did exactly that, and their own eyes either widened at the sight of the mysterious object that now appeared to be flying towards the tower in the distance. In fact, the distance it was at made it hard to tell just what it was supposed to be. Beast Boy, however, had much better eyesight than the average human, and was able to easily recognize it for what it was.

"It's Terra. She's flying over on a rock." He narrowed his eyes and gazed further. "It looks like someone else is on the rock with her. Judging by the hair, it's probably Aqualad."

Cyborg accessed his mechanical eye, increasing its own ocular capabilities. "He's right," said Cyborg. "I can see them clearly now."

"Why have they come here?" Starfire asked.

"No idea," said Robin. "But whatever it is, let's get outside so we can talk to them about it immediately when they arrive."

. . . . .

Just as Robin had hoped, the titans were all outside of the tower and waiting on the island by the time Terra brought her flying rock transport down to a landing with Aqualad alongside her. The geomancer was the first to disembark onto the island proper. "Good to see you all again," she said, a smile on her face while her golden hair billowed around in the wind.

Beast Boy chuckled, and gave his former crush a 'thumbs up'. "Good to see you to."

Aqualad stepped off of the grounded rock. "I am glad you are happy to see us." He walked up to directly next to his girlfriend, his black hair billowing in the wind. "But I'm afraid the reason we are here is not a pleasant one."

"What happened?" asked Cyborg.

"Where's the rest of Titans East?" Robin asked.

"Back at Steel City," Terra responded. "There was some business they had to take care of involving some vertigo person."

"Count Vertigo," Aqualad clarified. He folded his arms across his chest. "Apparently he and a bunch of other Arrow Family villains decided to set up shop in the area. And by the time Terra and I called the others to see if they could help us, they were too busy dealing with them. So we chose the next best option; you guys."

"Flattered to hear that," Raven grumbled. She folded her arms across her chest. "But what's going on that you want us to help you with?"

"Atlantis," Aqualad responded. "It's in trouble, and Terra and I need your help saving it."

. . . . .

"Let me get this straight," said Beast Boy. "Atlantis?!"

"Atlantis." Aqualad nodded his head. "You remember how Trident was amongst the villains working for the Brotherhood last year? He obviously must have escaped alongside the rest before the founders were refrozen, because now he's back causing trouble for Atlantis again. Specifically, he declared outright war on Atlantis yesterday."

"And you want our help in taking care of that," said Raven. "Why?"

"Not that we don't want to help," said Robin. "We're just curious. I mean, I was under the impression that, in the event that Aquaman actually wished to have outside help, his first instinct would be to call his fellow league members."

"Most of the founders and other leaguers that could make a difference are either off world or similarly too busy to help," Aqualad explained. "And the rest wouldn't be of any use in a place like Atlantis even if they weren't busy themselves."

"Fortunately," Terra began. "As it so happens, Garth was preparing in advance for one of his planned visits to Atlantis for later this year when he got a call from Aquaman himself. As it so happens, apparently you guys really got on the sea king's good side by rescuing his protégé and Tramm from the brotherhood last year. And with the League unable to help, he decided to allow you a chance to further prove yourselves worthy of his respect by allowing Aqualad to see if you could perhaps help him solve this problem in the league's place."

Beast Boy looked over at Robin. "Well it looks like at least one of the big ticket members of the League respects us."

"And how, may I ask, is Trident proving so big of a threat against Atlantis this time?" Robin asked, completely ignoring Beast Boy. "Does he still have his clones with him?"

"No," said Aqualad. "But according to King Orrin, he does have an army that more than makes up for their absence. One made entirely out of Trench."

"Trench?" Beast Boy asked.

"An underwater canyon?" asked Cyborg. " _That's_ his bigshot army?"

"Not that kind of trench," said Aqualad. He shook his head. "They were one of three Atlantean populations that survived after the continent's initial sinking. The one we all know about that Aquaman leads in the main cities of Atlantis itself was one such group. The Xebellians, the group that Queen Mera was born amongst and currently resides in the Bermuda Triangle was another. The Trench, however, are the third group, and they landed and took refuge within the Mariana's Trench, and subsequently evolved accordingly."

"Just imagine a race of aquatic xenomorphs with paralyzing venomous spit, enhanced senses, superhuman physical abilities, piranha-like teeth, and no cybernetics, and you've got the Trench."

Beast Boy and Cyborg gulped. "Ok," said the changeling. "That definitely sounds scarier than an aquatic canyon."

"Friends," said Starfire. "What are these xenomorphs of which Terra speaks?"

"I'll explain later," said Robin. He looked to Aqualad and Terra. "You said Trident declared war on Atlantis yesterday. Is he attacking Atlantis right now?"

"No." Aqualad shook his head. "He said he'd allow Atlantis all of today to consider surrendering tomorrow, and initiate combat against Atlantis tomorrow if we say no to surrendering when he returns to Atlantis tomorrow. Knowing him though, he likely only granted this opportunity for the sake of mockery. Nevertheless, regardless of whether you say yes, it would be wise for at least myself to return to Atlantis by the end of today."

"I see." Robin thought to himself. Admittedly, only a week had passed since the last big adventure the titans had embarked on outside of Jump City, and he was not entirely comfortable with leaving Jump City unprotected or in other heroes' hands too often. Then again, as he himself had noted not too long before Terra and Aqualad's arrival, the crime rate in Jump City currently appeared to be at a huge low point this week. Of course, there was always the possibility that something could happen in which they'd be needed during the time they were gone if they left to help Aqualad at Atlantis.

Then he remembered one other important detail. According to Terra, Aquaman apparently thought fairly highly of them thanks to how they'd saved Aqualad and Tramm from the Brotherhood the previous year. Furthermore, as Beast Boy himself had surprisingly subtly brought up, very few adult superheroes seemed to take the titans seriously and treat them with respect despite everything they'd accomplished. In fact, there were times where they arguably got treated with more respect by the _villains_ they encountered then they ever got treated with by their adult peers in the superhero community. The fact that such a high profile adult superhero as Aquaman at least appeared to have a high opinion of them was arguably a dream come true. Particularly since, despite not being a founder, he _did_ have a seat of honor at the Justice League founders' table as an advisor. He clenched his right fist. He'd made up his mind, and he was most definitely not going to risk losing the respect of the one adult superhero who seemed to take him and his friends seriously as heroes by turning down this request for them to provide assistance.

The boy wonder looked back at Aqualad and Terra. "Alright, consider it done. We'll help you. Jump City is currently going through a dry season as far as crime is concerned, so you picked a good time to ask for our assistance." He then raised his eyebrow. "Though strictly out of curiosity, why is Terra coming with us?"

"Garth figured that Beast Boy would be at his most helpful in this situation if he were swimming outside the ship alongside him. As for me, Garth and I thought that it would be useful to have someone extra to man the blasters on Beast Boy's compartment in his place, and I fit the bill." She let a cheeky grin appear on her face. "Though I will admit, I do also have personal reasons to want to tag along."

"Let me guess," said Robin. "You hope for this to be when Garth fulfills his promise to let you visit Atlantis with him on his next visit that he made on Valentine's Day."

"Exactly," said Terra. She put her hands on her hips, a proud look now on her face. "Couldn't be happier."

"I should have guessed you'd figure out about that at some point," said Aqualad.

"What can I say Garth?" A cheeky grin popped up on his face. "I'm a detective. And I learned from the best."

"Ok," said Cyborg. "Now that he have all that out of the way, how soon shall we be off?"

"No time like the present," said Terra, she rammed her left fist into her right palm. "We're ready when you are."

Aqualad nodded, and looked to Beast Boy. "You ready?"

Beast Boy rammed his right fist into his left palm, a toothy grin on his face. "Sign me up. I'm ready."

The other titans similarly indicated they were ready.

"Excellent." Aqualad looked to Terra, who smiled.

"Alrighty then," said the blonde. "So. Where's the ship?"

 **And just like that, new chapter posted! Here's to hoping you all read, review, and enjoy! I especially hope to receive plenty of feedback (remember, a minimum of 2 reviews are required for this specific chapter in order for me to allow the next completed chapter to be posted). Furthermore, considering the situation unfolding in this story, I feel it appropriate to say that I hope that the upcoming Aquaman movie this month indeed proves to be as good as the critics appear to currently be thinking it is when I see it this month (lord knows the DCEU deserves something good this year after how ok at best and terrible at worst all their other movies apart from Wonder Woman have been so far, not to mention how rough around the edges (yet still enjoyable) Titans has turned out to be, how horrid DC's comics has once again started to become with Heroes in Crisis, and how much longer we still have to wait for Young Justice Outsiders, TTG V. TT (and a hopeful proper TT 6th season after THAT), and various other DC Streaming shows). Again, hope you enjoyed this start for the 'episode' and look forward to what comes next!**

 **Coming up Next: The Titans have set off on their way to Atlantis. And in the time between the start of their trip and their eventual first battle for this story, there is just enough time for Robin to let the Titans become aware of yet another Titan he was friends with back in his time as Batman's sidekick as well as for Aqualad and Terra to provide the founding Titans (and the readers) to be aware of some much needed info regarding some of Aqualad's close friends from the Atlantis side of the world.**


	3. A Splash from the Past

**Hey ya'll! Hope you all had a merry Christmas and are currently having a similarly happy new year! Furthermore, I also hope you are looking forward to more Teen Titanic awesomeness to start off this new year from me, because here's a new chapter! While I usually would have continued to wait for a 2nd review to be posted for the previous chapter, the fact that I'm currently feeling in a particularly happy and giving mood right now thanks to finally watching the Aquaman movie yesterday (by far the 2nd best DCEU movie yet) has made me decide to reduce the minimum review quota back down to 1 (nonetheless, if you read and are able to review, please review; I really could use the extra motivation). All that in mind, in this new chapter, the Titans are on their way to Atlantis, and have just enough time to have a decent talk about several important elements of Aqualad's pre-TT life before the time comes for battle. Will the subject(s) of said talk prove worth the read for this chapter? I certainly hope so! Onward with the fic!**

 **A/N: But first, I own neither Teen Titans, or anything else DC-based. Got that? Good. NOW, onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 2:**

 **A Splash from the Past**

Aqualad swam calmly through the depths of the ocean, Beast Boy in bottlenose dolphin mode swimming right next to him, and the T-sub following close behind the two. They had departed from Titans tower about a quarter of an hour ago, and according to Aqualad, they were making decent progress towards Atlantis. Nonetheless, despite their current progress, they still had a ways to go before they reached their destination.

Beast Boy turned his head towards Aqualad. "So," he said telepathically to the Atlantean. "How has everything been between you and Terra lately?"

Aqualad raised his eyebrow. "Things have been going perfectly fine," he responded. "And if you're worried, no. I have not done any wrong by her."

"Wasn't worried about that," said Beast Boy. "But thanks anyway."

He morphed into a sailfish, negating the need to surface to breath. "If this makes you uncomfortable though, then there's a different question I'd like to ask you."

"I'm listening."

"Just how exactly _did_ you end up under Aquaman's wing?"

"Well that's a pretty complicated story. You sure you want to know?"

"I don't see why not. We've got time."

"If you say so."

Meanwhile, the titans in the T-sub were similarly engaged in a conversation to pass the time. And it was on the exact same topic, believe it or not.

"You're saying Aqualad used to be a prince?" Cyborg asked.

"That's what he told me," said Terra. "Granted, technically he never got the chance to be a prince since, by the time he was born, the rival Atlantean city state his parents were from had already staged a revolt that ultimately ended with that city state's king dead and its queen exiled and giving birth to Garth in the main city state of Poseidonis. Aquaman and Mera ended up raising him as their ward, but he was forbidden from being the heir of Poseidonis on account of his being born from a different city state's royal line. He was training to be a palace guard around the time Aquaman's brother Orm, staged his coup and tried to melt the polar icecaps, and ended up graduating from the Atlantean academy and becoming one of the Poseidonis royal family's three personal honor guards when he was 11. He has since become the Aqualad we all know and love in the years that followed."

"Well you certainly picked good company," said Raven.

"I'll say," said Robin. "To think that Roy, Wally, and I were working with royalty even before Donna got involved."

"You knew him before us as well?" Starfire asked.

"Yep. Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and myself were pretty good friends before my split from Batman. Heck, you could say that we were a prototype Teen Titans."

"Did you know Kaldur?"

The other girls in the sub raised their eyebrows, and so did Cyborg. Robin, however, nodded his head, now feeling sentimental as he remembered both the time he'd known the boy in question and the tragic fate that had reportedly befallen him. "I did. He managed to tag along with Garth to the surface world a couple times before my split with Batman. I heard about what happened to him to. I made sure to send my regards when I found out."

"Who the fridge is this Kaldur guy?" Cyborg asked.

"An old friend of Aqualad's from Atlantis," Robin explained. "Believe it or not, he's actually the son of Aquaman's enemy Black Manta. He was killed by Trident five years ago during Trident's initial revolt in Atlantis. One of the reasons Aqualad was so keen on going after Trident when you guys first met him was to get justice for Kaldur's death."

Starfire gulped, and hung her head. "I am sorry to hear about all this."

"How did he die?" Cyborg asked.

Robin sighed. "That's something I think is best for Aqualad himself to say, and only if he's comfortable with doing so. Believe me, the way Kaldur died? Far from a pleasant way to go."

"I'll ask Garth if he wants to tell you guys. This way Beast Boy can know as well if Garth is willing to talk about it." She drew out her communicator and initiated a call to Aqualad.

. . . . .

Beast Boy and Aqualad were just starting to wrap up their conversation when Aqualad's communicator went off. He reflexively drew it out and answered it. "Hello?"

Beast Boy raised his 'eyebrow', curious as to who was calling Aqualad.

"Oh hey Terra, what's . . . the others would like to know about Kaldur? Oh wait, hold on."

He turned to face Beast Boy. "She's talking about an old friend of mine from Atlantis. He was killed by Trident the same year that I first met you."

Beast Boy nodded, now up to speed.

"You were saying?" Aqualad asked, now back on the phone with Terra. "Oh yes, well, I suppose maybe it wouldn't be a problem. Just remember, this is a painful topic." He paused, seemingly listening to something Terra was saying. "Understood. Alright. But first, let me put you on speaker so that Beast Boy can hear you and the others."

Aqualad did so.

"Can you hear me BB?" Terra's voice asked from Aqualad's communicator.

"Loud and clear," the changeling said telepathically.

"He can hear you," Aqualad said to translate. He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Alright. Well it all started when Trident initiated his revolt in Poseidonis."

"The main city state of Atlantis," Terra explained for Beast Boy's benefit.

"Trident managed to break into the royal palace," Aqualad continued. "The majority of the Poseidonis army was outside dealing with Trident's temporary allies amongst the city's inhabitants. Fortunately, he and what few allies accompanied him there still had the royal guards to deal with, plus the three individuals that served as the royal family's personal honor guard. Those three? Myself, Kaldur, and our mutual friend Tula, who was Kaldur's girlfriend at the time and someone I used to have a crush on before Trident's uprising."

"Well aren't you a trove of juicy information today," Beast Boy joked.

"Very funny," Aqualad grumbled. "Anyway, at one point, Kaldur and I were fighting off a bunch of Trident's allies in the palace when we saw Trident heading off in the direction of where the king had gone. We were just about to head off after him when we saw a large group of Trident's temporary allies heading in the direction of the royal bedchambers where Tula was stationed to protect Queen Mera and the prince. Kaldur insisted that I go make sure that Tula, the queen, and the heir were alright. I did exactly that, and they were just fine. I stayed just long enough for them to insist that everything would be fine on their end, and then I ran back to rejoin Kaldur. By the time I found him, he had somehow slipped onto his knees, and I was just in time to see Trident stab him in the chest with his . . . well you know."

The other titans winced. Even Robin and Terra couldn't help but cringe upon being reminded of that detail.

"And Trident must have _really_ been out to get Kaldur that day, because he twisted the trident in circles while the blades were still stabbed inside him. And even worse, he unleashed the trident's energy into Kaldur as well; and at maximum power to. The only reason I didn't immediately intervene the instant Trident first stabbed Kaldur was because, in the few seconds in which I was frozen in shock at the sight, I was jumped by a small group of Trident's lackies. By the time I managed to fight them all off, the king himself had arrived and blasted Trident clean out of the palace with his powers. But by then, it was too late to save Kaldur."

The Atlantean hung his head, sighing in clear guilt. "To this day, I still regret my failure to save him. Granted, it's not quite as bad now as it was five years ago immediately after his death. But even now, despite having twice defeated Trident, I still feel like I haven't done enough. Heck, I may very well never feel like I've done enough."

"Sometimes that's just the way things are," said Raven. "As painful as it can be, there are times where you could walk to the end of the Earth and back and still not feel like you've done enough to make yourself feel better over something bad that happened."

"Exactly," said Robin. "And if those negative feelings you have never leave you? So what? That's ok. Even if they never leave, they'll usually lessen to a more bearable level if you give them the time and chance to do so. Believe me, I may not have known Kaldur nearly as well as you and Tula. But I do know that he would want you to keep living your life as happily as you can despite not being there to enjoy it with you. And I'm sure that, even if things got a little awkward at first because of Terra's past, he'd probably be proud of you for finding Terra and moving on from Tula with her. And who knows, considering who his father is, he and Terra could probably have gotten along better in this day and age then I was just now thinking he would."

"Who's Kaldur's father?" Beast Boy telepathically asked Aqualad.

"Black Manta."

"No way! You mean that guy dressed in black with a manta-ray themed helmet that shoots lasers from its eyes?!"

"The same. That's Kaldur's dad."

"Hoowee! Talk about family drama!"

"I'm not even gonna comment on that."

"What did Beast Boy say?" Raven asked.

"Nothing. He's just being his usual self."

"I resent that."

"You know," Cyborg's voice popped up. "I was just thinking, how's Tramm doing?"

An uncomfortably long pause followed Cyborg's question. "Honestly," Aqualad responded. "He could really be doing better."

"Why? What's happened?" Starfire asked.

Aqualad sighed. "Terra? Can take over for me for a while? I don't think I can handle talking about any more painful memories myself right now."

"Don't worry Garth. I've got this."

The founding Titans listened carefully.

"Not sure if Garth ever mentioned this, but Tramm? He's not an only child. He has an older brother named La'gaan; and that same brother went missing last year about a month or two before the Brotherhood started causing trouble. In fact, one of the key reasons he fought the Brotherhood alongside you guys last year was because he thought that they had La'gaan amongst their prisoners. Needless to say, he didn't take it well when it turned out La'gaan wasn't there."

At the sound of this, Starfire's heart sank. She knew all too well how it felt to have a missing brother.

"According to what Garth has told me," Terra continued, "Tramm has been in a bit of a deep funk ever since. In fact, Aquaman reportedly has put him on duty in the forge and armory in an effort to help him keep his mind off of his missing brother. But lately, even that strategy hasn't been working nearly as well as it used to."

The titans all let a moment of silence pass between them as they all thought of just what to say in response to this.

"Having recently reunited with my own long lost brother," Starfire began, "I very much hope that Tramm's brother turns out to be the alright."

"Me to Star," Robin agreed. "Me to."

An alarm began to ring on the t-sub's computer monitors.

"Sonar's picking something up," said Cyborg. "Not too far in front of us."

"I see it," said Aqualad. "You'd better get ready to fight. It looks like Trident managed to find us first."

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, found it well worth the wait, and leave plenty of feedback! Seriously, I NEED the motivation that comes from feedback! All that said though, I again hope you like this chapter (and the ones that come after this one). In fact, I honestly feel like the subject matter and plot of this story have become especially appropriate in light of the Aquaman movie (and if you haven't seen it yet, feel free to give it a shot! It's actually pretty darned good considering that stupid reputation Aquaman got as a lame-o because of that unflattering portrayal of him in Superfriends). Again, hope you all enjoyed and leave plenty of feedback (with an exact minimum of ONE review required for this chapter in order for the next chapter to be released)!**

 **Coming up Next: The battle is on as Trident comes onto the scene with an army of Trench at the ready to attack the Titans and attempt to stop them from reaching Atlantis. How will this battle unfold?**


	4. Swimming with the Fishes

**Hello everyone! Hope those who are reading this are ready for more, because here's a new chapter! At this time, with Trident having arrived at the Titans' location and brought an army of Trench with him, the battle is on! How shall things unfold? One way to find out! Hope you all read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, I'd best remind you once more that I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC-based. That out of the way, onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 3:**

 **Swimming with the Fishes**

The Titans all looked ahead just in time to see a massive murky crowd of beings swimming towards them. Beast Boy narrowed his sailfish eyes in the crowd's direction. "I hear an awful lot of snarling," he telepathically stated to Aqualad. "All those things swimming towards us, are they Trench?"

"Yep, definitely Trench."

"Get ready team," said Robin. "Things are about to get rough."

The Titans aboard the t-sub activated their blasters and brought the sub to a stop. Aqualad and Beast Boy also came to a stop, the shape shifter turning into a great white shark for good measure. "This time, Trident's mine."

Aqualad glared at Beast Boy. "Really? This again?"

"Calm down man, I'm just joking."

Aqualad rolled his eyes and turned his head to face the approaching enemies once more, just in time for them to reach a distance where they could be more easily seen. Needless to say, the mass group of Trench heading towards them was a far from pleasant sight to see.

At the sight of the Titans staying still before them, the Trench hissed and snarled, their piranha-like teeth bared menacingly and their pupilless electric blue eyes agleam with maniacal glee as they increased the speed at which they were swimming. They had their eyes on their prey, and they had no intention of finishing the coming battle with their targets alive.

When the Trench were minutes away from the titans' position, Robin decided they'd waited long enough. "Titans, fire!" The titans on board the sub opened fire with their blasters, their fearless leader following suit seconds later. Multiple Trench were hit point blank by the blasts, careening off course and quite stunned from the impact. The Trench coming from behind the ones that got hit by the blasters paid no mind to their stunned brethren, dismissively forcing them aside in their mindless effort to reach and kill their targets.

Inevitably, several Trench managed to completely avoid getting hit by the T-sub's blasters. Naturally, these same Trench ended up falling victim to Aqualad and Beast Boy's up close and personal physical attacks instead. Aqualad punched and kicked at a trio of Trench that came close enough to attack him.

"Keep your slimy fingers off of me," he shouted as he sent the last of the trio careening away from him with a kick to the throat. It crashed right into two of its brethren, throwing them off just long enough for all three to get blasted by the T-sub.

Aqualad heard a snarl coming from his right, and he turned around in time to see a Trench swimming straight towards him with its right hand drawn back to swing at him. The Atlantean ducked his head just in time to avoid getting his throat sliced by the monster's wickedly sharp fingernails, then followed up with a back flip. His left foot struck the Trench on the bottom of its lower jaw, sending it flying backward.

He heard another hiss coming from above him, and he looked up in time to see another Trench warrior diving towards him with its jaws open. Timing himself just right, he grabbed the creature's teeth right as it was about to try to bite his face. The Trench hissed and wheezed in discomfort as the Atlantean warrior began to swing it around in circles before finally sending it rocketing straight towards the T-sub, which promptly stunned it with its blasters.

Beast Boy, meanwhile, was similarly occupied in fighting against the Trench warriors that managed to avoid getting hit by the T-sub's blasters. Still in the form of a great white shark, he fought furiously against his current Trench attackers, biting them with his teeth, smacking them away with his tail, and ramming into them with his head; all while simultaneously diving and swerving to avoid getting sliced up by their clawed fingernails or bitten with their fiendishly sharp teeth.

He clenched his shark jaws around the torso of the last of his current attackers, swung it around viciously, and then tossed it towards the T-sub in time for the luckless Trench to be hit by the blasters. "These losers are gonna have to try a heck of a lot harder to make fillet outta this fish!"

He heard hissing, and he looked in the direction of the noise in time to see a trio of Trench floating idly nearby their jaws open as some sort of strange liquid appeared to bubble up in their gullets. His eyes widened. He now belatedly remembered what Terra had mentioned at the tower about the Trench having paralyzing venomous spit. "Oh crud," he thought to himself. There was too little time for him to take them out as a shark or swim away from them before they spat, and they were too close to him right now for them to miss if he stayed in shark mode.

The three Trench opened fire. Thinking quickly, Beast Boy shifted into an electric eel, hurriedly bending his body into just the right position for the three orbs of venom to surge harmlessly underneath him. Not wanting to give the Trench any time to prepare another attack, he lashed out with his tail. His tail made contact with the top of the center Trench warrior's head, and the creature shrieked as it found itself engulfed in a painful electrical shock. To sweeten the deal for Beast Boy, it reflexively jerked it hands out to its sides, unwittingly touching its two comrades' heads and exposing them to the electrical shock as well.

Within seconds, the trio of Trench that had tried to spit their venom at Beast Boy were knocked unconscious by the voltage, and Beast Boy swam away to subject multiple other Trench warriors to the same electrical shock treatment. But then one of the Trench he swam towards seemed to get wise, and it swung its claws straight towards the center of his electric eel form's body.

The shape shifter just barely turned into a sea turtle in time to avoid getting cut in half. He just as swiftly retracted his head and flippers into his shell as the Trench who'd tried to bisect him started picking at his shell with its claws and fangs. Before long, a massive group of Trench gathered around Beast Boy and started trying their luck at breaking through his shell. Unfortunately for this group, Beast Boy had been expecting them to gang up on him in this fashion, and he abruptly turned into a humpback whale. The sudden expansion in their target's size caused them all to be sent flying away as a result of the impact in which they were pounded by Beast Boy over the course of his transformation.

Having won a brief reprieve, the green humpback whale spent a few seconds gazing at the stunned and off kilter Trench that had originally been swarming it. Then Beast Boy looked ahead at the remainder of the Trench army attacking, turned into a sailfish, and zoomed forward to resume his part in the fight.

Meanwhile, Aqualad himself was similarly surrounded by a large group of Trench warriors. But the Atlantean boy was not afraid. He remained still, biding his time as his current attackers continued to circle around him and move closer and closer to him. Then, when the time was right, he let loose with his hydrokinesis, summoning an underwater whirlwind around him that sent the Trench warriors packing.

Aqualad turned his head to look behind him just in time to see Beast Boy finish off a pair of Trench that had been attacking him. "You good?"

"Sure am dude."

The green sailfish's eyes suddenly narrowed. "Incoming!" He turned into a manta ray and darted upwards. Aqualad looked back in front of him in time to see four Trench warriors swimming towards him.

The Atlantean sighed. "They just don't know when to give up, do they?" He dodged a slashing attack from one of the Trench, and once again he found himself fighting for his life against Trench.

Meanwhile, the five Titans within the T-sub were also getting annoyed at just how many Trench they were finding themselves dealing with.

"Good grief, this is insane," Terra growled, firing her compartment's blasters again and again.

"Tell me about it," Raven droned, her own blasters similarly firing away at the Trench.

Starfire, herself still firing her compartment's blasters at the enemy, couldn't help but feel worried about the large number of Trench that still remained. "Friends, I fear there may be more of these Trench beings then we can handle."

"Don't give up yet," said Robin. "They may have strength in numbers right now, but they don't have us on the ropes yet. If Trident thinks that this current army of his is going to take us down that easily, he's sadly mistaken."

"That's another thing," said Cyborg. "Have you noticed how the only enemies we've seen so far are all these Trench things?"

Robin thought to himself, took a quick careful look at the enemy forces, and narrowed his eyes. "You're right. I can't see Trident anywhere."

"Exactly. If Aqualad's correct, and Trident is behind this attack, where is he? I mean, from what Aqualad and BB told us about him from five years ago, he's way too proud to not try to come after us himself."

"In other words, this could be a trap," said Raven.

"We'll just have to be careful and keep our eyes open," said Robin. "I'll make sure Aqualad and Beast Boy do so as well." He accessed Aqualad's communicator. "Aqualad, do you read me?"

Outside the sub, Aqualad accepted the incoming call on his communicator, continuing his fight against his current Trench assailants simultaneously. "I read you Robin. What's going on?"

"Aqualad, have you and Beast Boy seen Trident anywhere?"

"So far, I haven't. And Beast Boy just told me that neither has he. But knowing him, he's bound to be around here somewhere."

"Just keep your eyes open. Both of you. For all we know, we may have stumbled into a trap, and I want us to be ready."

"Don't you worry," said Aqualad. "Beast Boy and I? We'll be careful." He punched an attacking Trench warrior in the throat, knocking it off balance. "And once Trident shows his face, we'll be ready."

A loud roar from somewhere behind the army of Trench brought the fight to a complete pause. All the combatants, Titan and Trench alike, remained frozen in place, completely caught off guard by the sudden noise.

"What on Earth was that?!"

Aqualad looked to Beast Boy, then back at the Trench. His eyes narrowed at the sight of them all turning around to face the area behind them. "Can't say for sure," he responded. "But I have a bad feeling that we're about to have a much bigger problem to worry about then these Trench."

. . . . .

Trident was in a much better mood at the current moment then he'd been earlier that week. He smirked smugly as he thought of how things were currently unfolding for him. As he had suspected would happen, his old enemy Aqualad had gone to the surface world to get assistance from his surface dweller allies. Right this very moment, those very same teenagers who'd sealed him away five years prior and later gotten him humiliatingly flash frozen just the previous year were now being waylaid by his Trench army.

His smile widened. He could also remember how tomorrow was the day he'd return to Atlantis to properly initiate his planned war against it. He knew perfectly well that the Atlanteans, especially its royal family, would never surrender. In fact, he'd only offered them the opportunity to surrender in exchange for him sparing their lives just to mock them. Now, all that needed to be done was for him to make absolutely certain that the Atlantean king's former protégé and his surface dwelling allies didn't make it to Atlantis. While he knew that his army of Trench were currently at work in waylaying the teenage heroes, there was a big difference between waylaying them and outright stopping them. And he had every intention of ensuring that this would be a case of the latter.

He grabbed onto a conch shell shaped amulet he had on a string around his neck. The amulet glowed with a purple light. "My loyal soldiers," he spoke telepathically, the power of the amulet allowing him to broadcast his thoughts into the minds of his Trench army. "How is your progress?"

"Master," spoke the leader of the Trench attack force. "Targets found. Attacking now."

"That is good," said Trident. "How are you and your forces faring against them?"

"Not good. Expected weaker."

"Fear not, I shall be arriving at your position soon. Stand by. I will finish them myself."

"Yes master."

Trident ended his telepathic conversation, lowered the amulet, and urged his mount forward. "Onward," he commanded.

The beast he was riding seemed to sigh, it's unnaturally glowing purple eyes shining with disinterest. "If you say so," it grumbled before it let out a mighty roar and continued its swim towards its rider's planned destination.

. . . . .

The Titans all narrowed their eyes at the sight of the remaining Trench warriors splitting apart and moving to the sides. They had a feeling that the enemy forces were now making way for Trident. "Get ready team," said Robin.

The entire team mentally held their breath, preparing themselves for Trident's arrival. Yet they were still surprised by just what they saw when Trident finally came into their sight. As it turned out, Trident, his distinctive trident in one hand and a pair of aquatic style reigns in his other hand appeared to be riding upon a ferocious looking beast that resembled a blue and white striped spinosaurus with a fish-like tail and quadrupedal-style legs designed so that the beast would likely find its belly dragging on the ground if it went on land.

"By Neptune," said Aqualad.

"What the Devil is that thing?!" Cyborg asked.

"A naga," Raven replied. "An aquatic evolutionary relative of dragons. They have a dragon's wisdom and the ability to talk, and they can both breath underwater like fish and use water as a breath attack. They can also go on land, but prefer to stay in the water. And considering they're not exactly native to this part of the ocean, the fact that Trident is riding one can't bode well."

"Raven's right," said Aqualad. "Naga are usually never found outside Asian waters, so the fact that Trident is riding one can't be good news for Atlantis, or for us." He narrowed his eyes as he finally noticed the naga's mysterious glowing eyes. "For that matter, naga also don't usually have glowing eyes, let alone eyes of that particular color."

The naga narrowed its eyes as it gazed towards Aqualad, Beast Boy, and the T-sub. It turned its head to face its rider. "Is this them?"

"Yes my steed," said Trident. "That is them. Let us eliminate them."

"As you wish master," said the naga. It turned its head back to facing the titans, letting out a mighty roar immediately afterward.

The Titans braced themselves for battle. "Here we go," said Robin.

With a guttural yell, Trident pointed his trident at the T-sub and fired a beam of electricity at it. The Titans had no time to move the T-sub out of the way, and the ship was hit point blank on the 'nose' end. The ship was sent rearing upward from the blow.

"Oh that's so not gonna fly," Beast Boy growled.

"Agreed," Aqualad snarled.

The two swimming teenagers darted their way towards Trident and the naga he was riding. The villain narrowed his eyes at the sight of them heading towards him, and he gestured towards the still reeling T-sub. "Take care of the vessel," he commanded his mount. He clenched both hands around his trident. "I'll handle these two."

"Very well then, master."

Trident dismounted from his position at the base of the naga's neck, and the mighty sea beast surged in the direction of the T-sub while Trident brandished his trident threateningly at the approaching Aqualad and Beast Boy.

Beast Boy reached Trident first, turning into a swordfish so that his sword-like nose extension headed straight towards Trident's chest. Trident caught the nose extension between the prongs of his weapon and diverted it so that the shapeshifter was sent spinning off course. Aqualad attacked next, thrusting his right fist at Trident's face. The villain swung his trident towards Aqualad, forcing the younger Atlantean to drift backwards to dodge.

Not one to give up, Aqualad hurriedly grabbed onto the trident with both hands while it was still in position from the failed slicing attack, initiating a wrestling match between the two combatants over the weapon.

Aqualad growled, tightening his grip on the trident. "Give it up Trident," he yelled. "We won't let you harm Atlantis!"

"We'll see about that," Trident snarled. He headbutted Aqualad in the face without warning. The Atlantean was left reeling from the blow, unconsciously letting go of the trident in the process. Trident capitalized on his newfound position of strength, banging the younger Atlantean on the side of the head with the blunt end of his weapon and sending him drifting backwards away from him.

Trident heard rapid movement coming towards him from the side, and he turned his head in time to see a green great white shark charging right for him. He backflipped out of the way just in time for Beast Boy to zoom right through the area he'd initially been floating around at, his shark form's teeth snapping at thin air. Trident left no time for Beast Boy to regain his bearings, blasting the green shark with his trident and sending it plowing into Aqualad.

Meanwhile, the T-sub wasn't entirely faring very well against the attacking naga. So far, the blasters seemed only to annoy the beast as it slashed, bit, and smacked its tail against the vessel.

"Keep it together guys," said Robin, trying as hard as he could to ignore the cracks forming on the window of his compartment as he kept firing steadily at the Naga.

Terra grimaced as she saw the naga take a massive crunch on the front side of the sub's left wing. "Hard to do that when the sub's not doing that much better at it."

"Eek," Starfire shrieked at the sight of the naga biting so close to where her compartment was located. "I am not liking the path in which this battle is journeying."

"Join the club," Cyborg grumbled, partially angry at the increasing amount of damage the sub was taking, partially worried about how close his own compartment's window appeared to be getting to shattering, and partially calmly focused on continuing his efforts to attack the naga. "Good grief, what the heck does Trident feed this thing?"

The naga roared, clearly not in the mood to answer Cyborg's question. It let go of the sub, swam backward a couple feet, and then did a backflip. It's fish-like tail smacked the underside of the sub's 'nose', sending the vessel careening backwards out of control.

Meanwhile, Aqualad and Beast Boy continued their duel against Trident. Aqualad continued to punch and kick at Trident while Beast Boy swung his tentacles and snapped his beak at the villain in the form of a giant squid. Naturally, the duo had to deal with swings, thrusts, and energy blasts from Trident's namesake weapon.

"Stay still you whelp," Trident snarled as Aqualad continued to dodge the energy blasts he was firing from his trident.

"Sorry. I don't take orders from you," Aqualad snapped as he dodged yet another blast.

"To true," Trident hissed. "But we'll see how rebellious you're feeling once I . . ." The villain paused at the sound of movement behind him. He turned his head, and mentally cursed as he was given an unpleasant reminder of how Aqualad wasn't the only combatant actively fighting him at the moment as Beast Boy wrapped his eight small squid 'arms' around him, his two enormously long tentacles waving around in the water and his beak opening up and ready to bite at him.

But Trident had managed to react just fast enough to avoid getting his trident and right arm pinned down by the colossal green squid's arms, and he got it into position to jab it straight at the squid's eyes. Beast Boy's eyes widened at the sight, and he hurriedly turned into a sea turtle and retracted into his shell just in time for the trident's tip to bang against the top of his shell and send him hurtling away.

Now freed from his earlier trap, Trident turned around to face Aqualad once more, charging another energy blast in the process. But Aqualad had been ready for this possibility, and had already swam into position in time to deal a backflip kick to Trident's face the instant Trident had turned his head to face him again, sending the villain reeling. Trident shook his head and regained his bearings, only to then be sent flying further backward by a summoned burst of strong ocean current from Aqualad's hydrokinesis.

This time it took Trident several minutes to recover after the ocean current finally ended, and he growled incoherently at Aqualad in rage while preparing his trident for attack once more. But then rapid heavy movement from behind alerted the villain, and he turned his head in time for his eyes to widen at the sight of a giant green liopleurodon hurtling straight towards him with its jaws open and at the ready to potentially swallow him. Trident darted to the side just barely in time to avoid getting snapped up in the mighty pliosaur's jaws.

Beast Boy managed to come to a halt with plenty of space still between him and Aqualad, and then turned to face Trident. Aqualad himself swam up next to Beast Boy and came to a stop as well. "You sure you don't want to stop now?" the younger Atlantean goaded. "We could easily do this all day you know!"

Trident glowered at his two opponents, only to then notice something out of the corner of his eye going on behind them. He looked in that direction, a smug look of triumph coming onto his face and replacing his earlier irritation, and then back at Beast Boy and Aqualad. "That may be true." He pointed behind them. "But can your friends do the same?"

His opponents raised their eyebrows, and turned their heads to see what he was pointing at. Their eyes widened at the sight of what was going on behind them. As it so happened, their friends were in a real fix. The naga was rapidly swimming around the sub in random alternating directions . . . while simultaneously using its water breath attack. And the use of its breath attack, combined with its current movements around the T-sub, was producing a massive undertow around the sub.

The effects of this undertow the sub was now trapped in were equally strong for the Titans on board as it was for the sub itself. "I think I'm gonna be sick," said Terra as she felt the vessel rapidly spinning around in the impossibly strong currents.

With the undertow now firmly established and in no hurry to end, the naga shut off its water breath, moved backwards a few feet away from the sub, and directed its gaze towards its rider. Trident nodded, seemingly answering a silent question from his mount. The naga faced the ship once more, took a deep breath, and then let loose with an even more powerful burst of ocean current hurtling from its mouth towards the already distressed T-sub, a mighty roar bursting out of its throat alongside its breath attack. The massive additional current adding onto the undertow the sub was already trapped in caused it to careen sideways off course, rocketing far away from where Trident and the naga were positioned.

The sound of Trident chuckling broke Aqualad and Beast Boy out of their stunned stupor, and they turned to face him, glares now on their faces. "It's me or your friends." He gestured in the direction of the now dangerously off course T-sub. "Take your pick." He darted off in the direction of the naga, leaving his two opponents engulfed in the bubbles left by his movement.

Aqualad shook away the bubbles. "Leave him," he shouted. "The others need our help."

"Don't need to tell me twice," Beast Boy responded, turning into a sailfish. The two friends hurriedly darted off in the direction of the T-sub, desperate now to catch up to it and help somehow before the makeshift undertow sent it too far out of their reach.

As this happened, Trident and the naga kept a watchful eye on the T-sub and its two would-be rescuers. The small army of Trench that had attacked the Titans before their arrival also watched from directly behind them.

"Are you sure this is what you want to be done with them?" the naga asked.

"I am as certain as Atlantis is doomed," Trident responded. He clenched his left fist and raised it to his face. "With how strong of an undertow you appear to have made, it would be a miracle if any of them were to survive being caught in it. And in the unlikely event they _do_ survive, odds are high they'll end up right at our hideout, where that shifty, yet reliable, ally of mine will almost certainly be smart enough to finish the job himself."

He pointed his trident at the green sailfish and young Atlantean pursuing the T-sub. "But for now, regardless of what ends up happening, I'd best make sure that they are guaranteed to experience it together." He fired a beam of electricity from his trident at the two Titans pursuing the sub.

Aqualad and Beast Boy had miraculously made it halfway to the sub's current position when the blast from Trident plowed into them, engulfing them in a painful electrical shock and sending them rocketing forward the rest of the distance between them and the sub. Unfortunately for them, as Trident had planned when firing the blast at them, they were sent past the safe distance they'd intended to reach to help the sub and straight within the thick of the undertow. Within moments, Aqualad and Beast Boy found themselves rapidly yanked and swirled and jerked around by the impossibly strong currents, occasionally slamming helplessly against various areas of the T-sub for good measure.

"Of all the rotten luck," Aqualad thought to himself as he found himself at the mercy of the undertow. "This is bad."

"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" Beast Boy shrieked telepathically as he too found himself helpless to stop himself from being swept away by the undertow alongside his friends.

The Titans inside the sub caught sight of their aquatic capable friends trapped in the undertow alongside them, and their hearts sank.

"We're doomed," Raven droned.

"Titans, brace yourselves as best as you can," Robin grumbled resignedly. "Things are gonna get rough."

"You're telling me," said Cyborg. "If this goes on long enough, who knows where we'll end up, or how much further damaged the sub will get."

Terra, meanwhile, couldn't help but gulp and quiver in fear as water poured into her compartment from several massive cracks in the window, terrified by the now frighteningly real possibility that she'd drown.

Beast Boy, desperate to still at least try to protect his friends somehow, focused with all his might. Much to his relief, he successfully transformed into a giant squid, hurriedly wrapping his eight arms around the sub at various areas to hold it together as best as he could and allow his body a 50/50 chance of taking most of the impact in the event the sub crashed into anything. Unfortunately, he'd ended up latching onto the underside of the sub, and was unable to position his arms in any way that would allow him to properly stop up the leaks in Terra's compartment, and his two massive tentacles were much too unwieldy to be a reliable solution to this problem. Then he looked at the still flailing Aqualad. Perhaps maybe his two tentacles would be of some use in saving Terra after all.

"Aqualad!" he shouted. "Try to grab onto one of my free tentacles!"

By sheer luck, Aqualad was just about to zoom right past one of the tentacles, and he reflexively grabbed onto it. "Ok, I've got ahold of you! What now?"

"Good. Do you think you can focus well enough to use your hydrokinesis?"

"No idea," said Aqualad. "As far as undertows are concerned, I'm more used to controlling them from safely outside then from within."

"Well try to see if you can get it working anyway. Terra's compartment has sprung leaks in its window, and I can't get them plugged without risking the other compartments' windows starting to leak as well!"

"Can't make any promises," said Aqualad. "But for Terra's sake, I'll gladly try."

He wrapped his right arm around Beast Boy's tentacle as tightly as he could. Then he extended his left hand towards Terra's compartment, his eyes closed and concentrating with all his might. What looked like a dome of mist began to form around the distinctive cracked window of Terra's compartment. This dome, after a few minutes of Aqualad concentrating and grunting from the effort, expanded into a misty air pocket, ceasing the pouring water that had been leaking in and putting the geomancer at risk of drowning.

Terra noticed this, gasped in relief, and closed her eyes. "Thank you, Garth," she thought to herself.

The T-sub continued to hurtle further and further away from where the battle against Trident and his forces had occurred, Beast Boy continuing to keep himself firmly attached to the vessel while Aqualad continued to put everything he had into ensuring that the air pocket around Terra's compartment stayed intact.

"Good job," said Beast Boy. "I knew you could do it."

"Easy for you to say," Aqualad snarled, his teeth gritted from the insane amount of effort he was putting in to keep his girlfriend from drowning.

"Just keep at it, you're doing great."

"I'll try; but unless we're able to safely come to a stop within the near future, I can't promise anything else."

At that moment, an alert popped up on the T-sub's computer monitors, and its passengers' eyes widened. Cyborg hurriedly tapped into the ship's broadcast system.

"Yo! Aqualad! BB! You listening?"

"Loud and clear," Aqualad replied. "What's going on?"

"Sonar's picked up something large in our path, and it looks like we might soon be on a collision course within the next two minutes."

"Found it."

At the sound of Beast Boy's unnerved telepathic statement, Aqualad turned his head. His dark eyes widened. "Oh Neptune. Guys, that large object you detected? I see it now."

And indeed he did. As of that moment, the Titans were rapidly hurtling towards what appeared to be the side of a massive boulder leaning up against the side of an aquatic mountain.

"Warning," spoke a voice from the sub computers. "Collision imminent."

"I can't look," Starfire whimpered, covering her eyes.

"Brace yourselves team," said Robin, grimacing and tensing up for the incoming impact. Cyborg, Raven, and Terra similarly winced and braced themselves for impact.

Beast Boy, who now appeared very likely to receive the full brunt of the impact thanks to his current position, mentally gulped. "This is gonna hurt."

Aqualad, however, narrowed his eyes, his resolve hardening. "Here goes nothing."

With a yell of effort, the young Atlantean channeled all his power into the misty barrier around Terra's compartment, causing it to rapidly expand into a giant air bubble that completely encased the entire ship as well as its two exterior passengers. All seven of the Titans had just enough time to briefly realize just what Aqualad had done before the side of the bubble located directly behind Beast Boy's head slammed against the boulder.

With an ear splitting pop, the gigantic air pocket Aqualad had created burst, shattering the boulder and revealing a gaping entrance to a large underwater cavern. The Titans, however, had no time to get a good look at this detail, as a massive surge of water was triggered by the burst air pocket, sending them rocketing into the cavern and down a long tunnel. In the process, Beast Boy found himself forcibly detached from the sub, and the strong current sent him and Aqualad zooming through the tunnel ahead of the similarly off kilter T-sub. As they rocketed further and further from the sub, the young Atlantean and green shapeshifter found themselves succumbing to the g-force, and they eventually lost consciousness.

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and leave plenty of feedback (remember, I need an exact minimum of 1 review for this newly posted chapter present before I allow the next chapter to be posted; and while I'm at it, I would also greatly appreciate it in the event that this chapter got more than just a single review). Again, hope you all enjoyed and look forward to whatever comes next!**

 **Coming up Next: The Titans wake up and find themselves marooned in the underwater caverns that Trident has now forced them to make a pitstop at. How will they proceed from here? Find out next time!**


	5. Waking up in Paradise

**Hey ya'll! Hope you're all ready for some more Teen Titanic awesomeness from me, because here's a new chapter! I'll admit, this is definitely later then I intended. But to be fair, I have spent the last few days juggling a job, settling in from a recent move, and several other tasks. Naturally, finding good time to work on my fanfiction was definitely a bit difficult (to say the least) over the last few days. But that being said, here's the newest chapter! In this chapter, the 7 Titans wake up inside the interior of the caverns they've now ended up forced to make a pit stop at thanks to Trident. With the T-sub understandably not in good condition for travel, how shall our heroes proceed from here? And for that matter, are they even safe in these caverns? Only one way to find out! Here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, quick reminder. I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC-based.**

 **Chapter 4:**

 **Waking up in Paradise**

"Wake up. Beast Boy, wake up."

The changeling groaned, his body tensing up as he fought off the lingering hold of his state of unconsciousness. He lifted his head, forcing his eyes open in the process. He turned his head, catching sight of Raven on her knees right next to him. The sight of the sorceress was enough for the changeling to fully wake up instantly.

"Rae."

He pushed himself up to his feet. "Oh thank goodness you're alright. What about the others? Are they ok?"

The sorceress gestured towards the area behind her, and Beast Boy saw the rest of the Titans gathered around where Aqualad was lying unconscious, Terra on her knees beside him. "Yes Beast Boy, we're alright."

"Garth," Terra said, her hands on Aqualad's shoulders and shaking him around in an effort to wake him up. "Garth, wake up."

The combination of Terra's voice and her shaking him around was enough to awaken the Atlantean from his unconsciousness. The instant he turned his head and caught sight of Terra, he leaped to his feet and gave the geomancer a tight hug.

"Well," said Terra, half surprised and half pleased with Aqualad's reaction. "Someone's certainly happy."

"Thank Neptune you're alive," said Aqualad, happy indeed that Terra hadn't drowned in the time between the moment he'd woken up and the moment he and Beast Boy had been separated from them.

Terra chuckled. "Have no fear Garth, you're not getting rid of me that easily."

Aqualad chuckled right back in response. He looked around the area, taking note of how he and the other Titans appeared to be in some sort of cavern, and that they were on the shore of what seemed to be a large salt water lake. "Hmm, where are we?"

Cyborg shrugged. "Don't ask us man. You're the expect on undersea geography around here, not me."

"Rhetorical question." The Atlantean looked side to side, his eyes narrowing. "And on another note, where's the T-sub?"

Robin pointed to his right a couple feet behind him. The distinctive black 'nose' of the T-sub's frontmost compartment was sticking out of the water. "As you can probably already guess, it's going to need some serious repair work if we want to use it again any time soon."

"No kidding," Cyborg grumbled. He shook his head, sighing irritably. "I'm starting to get a very uncomfortable sense of déjà vu."

"Friends," said Starfire. "Surely our vessel can be repaired like it was last time Trident damaged it?"

"Hard to say Star." Cyborg shook his head once more. "For one, we'll need to get it all the way out of the water in order for me to properly assess the damage. And regardless of how badly the sub's currently damaged, I'm afraid I'm awfully limited right now in what I can do to fix it. Not to mention, it certainly doesn't help that Tramm was here to help the last time Trident screwed up the T-sub like this."

Raven nodded her head. "He certainly knew his stuff."

"Well what are gonna do then?"

Terra spread her arms out sideways, and then slapped them downward helplessly against her sides. "Trident's supposed to start his attack on Atlantis tomorrow. How are we supposed to get there now that we're stuck here with the sub destroyed and one of the only people around here who could help us fix it is all the way in Poseidonis working in the royal armory?"

Beast Boy turned his head to face Robin. "Any bright ideas?"

Robin didn't immediately answer, his mask narrowed as he thought carefully to himself. Then he seemed to get an idea. "Aqualad, is there anyway you could contact Atlantis directly from here?"

Terra raised her eyebrow. "How would that help?"

"If we're lucky, the Atlanteans might be able to have someone available that they could send to help us. And even if that's not the case, we could at least allow Aquaman and the rest of Atlantis to know that Aqualad and the rest of us are alright and that we'll try our best to get to Atlantis to help as soon as possible."

"Sounds worth a shot to me," said Beast Boy.

The surface dwelling Titans all looked to Aqualad. "Well," said the Atlantean. "There's no guarantee that Atlantis is within range for my telepathy, but I suppose I can try to contact King Orrin that way." He placed his hands to his heads, closed his eyes, and concentrated.

Seconds later, Aqualad sighed, lowered his hands, and shook his head. "No luck. Just as I feared, I'm too far out of Atlantis's range to communicate with anyone there with my telepathy. And there didn't seem to be anyone within range to hear me from where my telepathy _was_ able to reach right now."

"Well there goes that idea," said Cyborg.

"Don't be too sure about that just yet." Aqualad drew out his T-communicator. "King Orrin has an exclusively designed communicator that he uses when he needs to contact the League, and he allowed me to add its ID to my T-comm's contacts. I'll just real quick see if I can reach him that way."

He initiated a call, placing the communicator up to his ear. All of five seconds passed before he frowned, lowered the communicator from his ear, and hung up. "And, no service. Great."

"Now what do we do?" Starfire asked.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking." Robin lifted his head, eyes narrowed and facing the ceiling of the cavern. "Well, going by Aqualad's earlier rhetorical question, it probably wouldn't hurt to take a look around the area and see if we can get an idea of where we are."

The other Titans gazed around the area. "Hmm," said Beast Boy. "This does look kind of like the cavern where Aqualad had his whale buddies bring the sub to the last time Trident damaged it." His eyes narrowed as he realized another important detail. "Then again, the same cavern that Trident turned out to be using as his stronghold didn't exactly look any different from that other cavern I just mentioned." He shook his head. "Yeah, I got nothing."

"I agree with Robin," said Terra. "Who knows, if we're lucky, maybe there's someone else living in this cavern that could help us. And if that's not the case, then best case scenario? This place is uninhabited, and we'll have plenty of time to safely think up a plan. Worst case scenario? There turns out to be something hostile living here, but we'll at least know for certain."

"Exactly," said Robin.

"Well no time like the present then," said Cyborg. "Let's go exploring."

"Shouldn't one of us stay behind to watch the sub?"

The other Titans considered Beast Boy's question, then Cyborg had a lightbulb go off on his mind. "Taking care of that in 3, 2, 1." He activated a small hovering drone from his systems that flew over to the sub's location and started hovering in place above the 'nose' sticking out of the water.

"The same security drones you used to perform recon on the Titans East tower when my brother was being mind controlled," said Terra.

"Yep," Cyborg confirmed. "High time I put one of those babies back to good use." He raised his thumb. "Booyah."

"Alright, let's get moving. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get back to work figuring out how to get this dilemma solved."

The Titans entered a nearby tunnel leading away from the cavern they'd landed in. But as they made their way into the tunnel, they failed to notice how they were being watched by a mysterious figure who'd raised half of its scaly head from the water and was now directing its pupilless red eyes in their direction.

. . . . .

After several minutes of walking through the tunnel, Starfire noticed something of interest on one of the walls. "Friends, I think I've found something." The other Titans turned their heads to see what had caught Starfire's attention, noticing a series of strange symbols written on the wall that the Tamaranean was looking at. Positioned above these symbols was what looked like a drawing of a gigantic five point star.

"Hmm," said Raven. "I can't say I know what that star drawing is supposed to be about. But these symbols underneath it; something tells me they could be sigils of some sort."

"That's certainly a possibility," Terra agreed. She narrowed her eyes as she took another close look at the symbols. "They certainly are Atlantean in nature, so this could be a good sign for us."

The founding Titans directed confused looks at the geomancer. "How do you know they're Atlantean?" Robin asked.

Terra pointed at Aqualad. "Garth's been giving me lessons on Atlantean culture. He thought it would be good preparation for me to have for when I came to visit alongside him." She took another look at the symbols. "And I can definitely recognize these as Atlantean glyphs. Though admittedly, I don't think I've gotten quite far enough in my lessons to give you an exact translation of them all."

"Let me take a look," Aqualad suggested. The other Titans moved out of the way, allowing Aqualad to walk up to the wall with the symbols. The Atlanteans dark eyes narrowed as he examined what was written.

Beast Boy, naturally, was the first to let his curiosity get the better of him. "What do they say?"

"Shh," said Cyborg. "Let Aqualad concentrate."

Aqualad put his finger to his chin, clearly in thought. "Well, I can't say for certain that I'm completely accurate here. I mean, several of these symbols appear to come from a much earlier form of Atlantean glyphs then the kind I'm familiar with. But from what I can best interpret, these symbols appear to mean something along the lines of 'Welcome loyal followers. Your service to the abyssal star will be forever appreciated. But beware nonbelievers, for the abyssal star is as ruthless as he is wise. And those who make an enemy out of him can only wish that he'd be kind enough to grant them the freedom of death.'"

The other Titans looked each other in the eyes. "Ok," said Cyborg. "Not sure if I should be unnerved by what I'm guessing is supposed to be an ominous warning, or rolling my eyes at how cliched those words sound."

"Cliched or not, we'd best take note of it, and stay on guard" said Raven. "These symbols could be a sign of this cavern being inhabited. And if they mean what Aqualad currently thinks they mean, then we could be dealing with some sort of cult."

Beast Boy shuddered. "Like we needed any more reason for this place to feel creepy."

"Cult or no cult, we'd best keep moving. Regardless of who or what we find in this place, it will be better for us to know for certain. We're not going to be much help to Atlantis or figure out a way to get out of here if we start letting creepy possibilities and unnerving speculations hold us back. If this place turns out to be dangerous, then we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there." The boy wonder turned away from the star drawing and the Atlantean symbols written underneath. "Let's go."

. . . . .

After what felt like an hour, the team finally came to the end of the tunnel. Over the course of their long walk, they'd all taken note of various other drawings, symbols, and phrases placed upon the walls at multiple points within the tunnel. Now, at the end of the tunnel, they could see an even stronger potential hint of the cavern system they were in being inhabited. Specifically, they saw what appeared to be a small subterranean city.

Raven raised her eyebrow as she gazed at the small expanse of stone buildings that looked as if they'd been carved into preexisting natural rock structures. "If this place is in any way related to all those Atlantean glyphs and symbols we passed, then I can definitely say that this isn't exactly what I had in mind when I heard the word Atlantis."

"I'll say," said Terra. "No offense Garth, but if this is supposed to be an Atlantean city, then I _really_ hope that Poseidonis or any of the other main city states are a heck of a lot more impressive then what we've got here. I mean, call me stereotypical, but this places looks more like rejected concept art for the City of Ember or that one subterranean city from the Underland Chronicles to me."

"It's definitely not Poseidonis," Aqualad confirmed. "Or any of the other main Atlantean city states for that matter." He turned his head to look at another one of the buildings. "Now that I think about it though, I definitely have an idea of how it might be somewhat affiliated with Atlantis."

"Care to fill us in?" said Cyborg.

"According to what I learned in my Atlantean history lessons," Aqualad began. "In the early years following Atlantis' initial sinking, the people of the 7 city states apart from Xebel and the Trench had multiple military outposts set up in assorted areas near the borders of their territories."

"You think this could be one of those outposts?" Robin asked.

"It's certainly possible. Though if it is, I can't say there's any guarantee that we'll find anything here that could help us."

"Why do you say that?" Cyborg asked.

"Well for starters. . ."

"Shh!"

The other Titans glared at Beast Boy.

"Beast Boy," said Robin. "This really isn't the time to. . ."

"Shh," Beast Boy hissed again. He placed his hand to his ear. "Listen."

The other Titans raised their eyebrows, but nonetheless followed Beast Boy's suggestion. Sure enough, they could now hear the faint sound of what appeared to be the sound of pounding hammers and sharpening blades.

"Ok," said Aqualad. "Perhaps maybe this place is inhabited after all." He narrowed his eyes. "Though I'll admit, it would be rather strange for this place to be inhabited if it _is_ in fact one of those old Atlantean military outposts. It was my understanding that they were all abandoned not too long after King Orrin assumed the throne."

"Maybe he allowed some of them to remain active," Terra suggested. "I mean, if you really think about it, that wouldn't entirely be an unreasonable thing to do."

Aqualad considered Terra's suggestion. "I suppose that's true. Still, if that's the case, it's odd that I wasn't aware of it. King Orrin usually tells me everything."

For a brief moment, Robin silently felt a surge of envy arise in him at the reminder of how much his friends from before he became the leader of the Titans still had largely good relations with their respective mentors while he himself was still on icy terms with his own. He swallowed it down. Right now, any personal drama between him and Batman was irrelevant. "That's, certainly nice to know," he managed to say in a reasonably calm voice.

Aqualad shook his head. "I can worry about that later. Right now, what's more important is that we investigate that noise and see if it in fact does mean that this place is inhabited." He then winced. "And if we're lucky, then maybe the inhabitants of this place won't turn out to be some sort of crazy cult, or worse."

 **And just like that, new chapter over. I'll admit, this is definitely a more low key chapter as far as the events that occur at this point in the story. But then again, considering the action packed chapter that came before it, I suppose a little breather isn't entirely a bad thing. That being said, here's to hoping you had a fairly good time reading it, and that you leave a respectable amount of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of 1 review for this new chapter in order to allow the next chapter to be posted).**

 **Coming up Next: The Titans make their presence known to the inhabitants of this apparent Atlantean military outpost.**


	6. First Contact

**Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you all are ready for yet more awesomeness from me, because here's a new chapter! In this chapter, the Titans make their presence known to the inhabitants of this apparent Atlantean military outpost that they've found themselves in. How shall things unfold from here? Let's find out everyone! Here's hoping you read, enjoy, and review!**

 **A/N: But first, quick reminder as usual, I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC-based.**

 **Chapter 5:**

 **First Contact**

The Titans finally found the source of the noise in what appeared to be some sort of amphitheater. They gathered around the entrance to the structure, peaking surreptitiously inside. They saw a large group of people inside in the midst of sharpening weapons and banging hammers upon armor and other projects. Furthermore, they also noticed that the amphitheater's interior appeared to have been set up to serve as a makeshift forge and workshop, thus explaining the current activities the occupants within were up to.

Terra narrowed her eyes in concentration as she gazed at the activities going on within the amphitheater. "Well," she whispered. "So far, it certainly looks as if they could be friendly. I mean, judging by their armor, they look like Atlantean soldiers."

"Indeed," Aqualad whispered in agreement. "Still, they could be renegades, or fanatical purists. And even if they're not either of those two possibilities, they could yet be jumpy. After all, they are preparing their weapons, and Trident is supposed to begin his attack on Atlantis tomorrow. Not to mention, the seven of us have currently come here unannounced and are sneaking around without letting them know about our presence."

Robin thought to himself. "I will admit," he whispered, "I can certainly see why our current behavior would make us look suspicious right now in the wrong eyes."

"Agreed," Starfire whispered back to her boyfriend in agreement. "Perhaps we should see if we can let these soldiers be made aware of our presence and hopefully avoid getting seen as enemies."

"No kidding," said Beast Boy.

"Indeed." Aqualad nodded, and took another look at the soldiers gathered in the amphitheater. "Ok, for now, I'm gonna go in first on my own and see if I can earn their trust and keep things peaceful. You can stay right here and watch just in case things head south. But if things do work out, then I should hopefully be able to call you in to join me if they feel comfortable enough around me to trust that you won't be a threat. I mean, the fact that I'm one of King Orrin's personal proteges will probably earn me some level of credibility if these guys turn out to be trustworthy, but better safe than sorry."

"Understood," said Robin.

"Good luck," said Terra.

"Thanks," Aqualad whispered. He took a deep breath, steeled himself with a prayer, and then cautiously knocked his fist against the wall he was standing against.

The sounds of activity within the amphitheater instantly ceased. For five seconds, dead silence filled the air. "Who's out there?!" yelled a voice from inside. "Show yourself!"

Steeling himself once more, Aqualad slowly came out into view, doing everything in his power to try to not look threatening. Once he'd stepped fully into view within the amphitheater's entrance, he and the entire group of soldiers within the amphitheater stared each other down for a few seconds. Then the leader narrowed his eyes and pointed his weapon, a wicked looking javelin, in the younger Atlantean's direction. "I am Omoros, commander of this outpost. Identify yourself."

Aqualad took a deep breath to make sure he stayed calm, and then opened his eyes to face the leader. "I am Garth Vinseto of Poseidonis, honorary Teen Titan, and protégé and honor guardsman for King Orrin. I mean you no harm."

The soldiers gathered in the amphitheater looked each other in the eyes, considering what Aqualad had said. They looked back at him. "You certainly do look like him," Omoros admitted. "However, one can never be too careful. Therefore, I must ask you to tell me something that you would only know if you truly are Garth Vinseto."

"Is there anything specific you have in mind for me to say?"

"As a matter of fact there is. There is a secret about Garth Vinseto. One that has largely been trusted only with Garth himself, the royal family of Poseidonis, their honor guard, and the Poseidonis royal army. Specifically, the soothsayers of Atlantis once had reason to believe that he would spell doom for Atlantis entirely. If you truly are Garth Vinseto, then you will know why that was the case."

Aqualad took a deep breath, and then exhaled. What he was about to say was something that he'd only told a single person outside the groups that the soldier had just mentioned. That single person in question being Terra. Right now, he could only hope that this wouldn't change his standing amongst the Titans now that the founding Titans were about to finally learn about it themselves.

He looked back at Omoros. "Before I was born, my uncle Zath of Shayeris plotted to overthrow my father Thar. My father's work at designing robots and weapons to use against his brother was considered an abomination against the Shayerian ideals of pacifism and nonviolence. As a result, a group of angry radicals initiated a revolt, and it ended with my father being killed, and my mother Berra being exiled. But before he died, he was able to cast a spell that banished my uncle to another dimension.

"However, that same spell came with a price in that my father's offspring would be magically granted the power to release my uncle from his imprisonment upon birth. When I was a child, this power first manifested in me when my eyes started glowing purple anytime I accessed any form of Atlantean magic that wasn't exclusively related to hydrokinesis. Things finally came to a head the year after Trident's first attempt at taking over Atlantis. At that point, while I was exploring the outer borders of Shayerian territory alongside King Orrin, the magic in me designed to release my uncle took possession of me and I swam under its thrall to where the 'keyhole' for his prison was located and cast the necessary counter spell to release him. Once my uncle was free, the magic that had been designed to release him finally left me and got absorbed into my uncle to fuel his own power. But fortunately, I was still powerful enough on my own that I was able to work together alongside Orrin to finally defeat my uncle once and for all. Since then, Atlantis has no longer had any reason to worry about me causing its doom."

The founding Titans were stunned speechless as they listened in from outside the amphitheater. Terra, however, merely nodded her head with her eyes closed. As the only Titan that Aqualad had told about all this information before now, she knew all too well how uncomfortable her boyfriend still felt about talking about it. Nevertheless, she hoped very much that his having to dig back into it this time would prove worthwhile.

Omoros nodded his head, a small smile on his face. "That is indeed true. In fact, you have even given additional true information that I hadn't asked for." He turned his head to address the rest of the soldiers. "At ease. He is indeed who he claims to be." The rest of the soldiers relaxed, and put away their weapons. Omoros looked back at Aqualad. "His majesty speaks very highly of you Garth. It is an honor to have you here with us. But please, if I may ask, what brings you here?"

Aqualad nodded. "I presume you are aware of the current trouble on the verge of befalling Atlantis?"

"We are aware of Trident's return, yes."

Omoros nodded his head. "And it need not even be said how Atlantis will obviously be going to war with him tomorrow. My men and I have been preparing ourselves tirelessly for the combat ever since we got word of the situation and were informed of how we'd be serving as a reserve force in the event the main army started to get overwhelmed. I presume this has something to do with why you're currently here?"

Aqualad nodded. "With how large of an army Trident appears to have at his command from the Trench, King Orrin felt that it would be wise to see if he could secure assistance from the surface dwellers just in case. But all of his allies from the Justice League were either too busy with other problems or ill-suited to the task entirely. Then he remembered how I myself am a member of the Teen Titans. Ever since last year's war between them and a group of surface dwelling villains known as the Brotherhood of Evil, King Orrin has come to view the Titans with considerably more respect then most of his peers in the League; and he thought it would only be right for him to give them a chance to further prove themselves worthy of this respect. I was actually on my way back to Poseidonis with the Titans I was able to secure assistance from when we got waylaid by Trident and his army and sent off course. As you can see, we've ended up here by accident as a result."

Omoros thought to himself, considering what the younger Atlantean had told him. "I presume that these friends of yours that you brought along are out in the city somewhere with you?"

"Yes. In fact, they're right outside the entrance to this very amphitheater. I can call them in if you're ok with that."

"You go right ahead. As far as I'm concerned, any friend of yours is a friend of ours."

Aqualad turned his head to face the direction of where his friends were hiding. "You can come in, it's safe."

The six surface dwelling Titans stepped out into view from their hiding place. Robin clasped his hands together and bowed his head towards the assembled soldiers in respect. "Greetings, I am Robin, leader of the Teen Titans. I apologize in advance if our presence here causes any sort of disturbance for you and your people."

"Fear not. As I've just told Garth, any friends of his are welcome amongst us; and you are clearly his friends. Furthermore, since his majesty himself considers you worthy of respect, we would be fools not to grant you the same courtesy. Please, if there is any way you think that we could perhaps help you, do tell us."

Robin nodded, clearing his throat in the process. "As a matter of fact, there is something that I do hope you might be able to assist us with."

"I'm listening."

"As you know," the boy wonder began, "most Earth surface dwellers aren't capable of surviving under the ocean the same way your people are without help." He pointed at Beast Boy. "My friend over there; the one with green skin? He's an exception since his shape shifting powers allow him to take on the form of animals that can survive in the same environment as you. But the rest of us aren't so lucky, so we have to use a specially designed vehicle to survive in the environment outside of Atlantis itself."

"No surprise there."

Omoros nodded his head. "I am presuming that this vessel you speak of is in the pool within the entrance to this cavern system? No doubt damaged from your recent assault by Trident I reckon?"

"That is correct. We would fix it ourselves, but the resident mechanic amongst us didn't quite come prepared for this situation, and the one Atlantean we know of from prior experience who could help him is currently all the way in Poseidonis and out of our reach."

"A most inconvenient turn of events," Omoros agreed. He nodded his head. "But nonetheless, I am confident that this dilemma can yet be solved." He tapped the blunt end of his javelin onto the floor of the amphitheater. "Garth. I presume that you have attempted to contact his majesty yourself and proven unable?"

"I have," Aqualad admitted. "There was no one in range to hear my telepathic distress call, and there appears to be some sort of interference going on with my efforts to contact his majesty with my communications device."

"I figured as much."

Omoros turned his head to face one of his subordinates, a silent message seeming to pass between them. The subordinate nodded, and Omoros returned his gaze to Aqualad. "Fear not. I shall make sure to send a small group of my men to Poseidonis later today to inform his majesty of your current whereabouts and situation. I am certain that things shall be worked out as needed from there."

Aqualad bowed his head in respect. "Thank you."

"You are most welcome."

Omoros slammed the blunt end of his javelin on the amphitheater floor thrice. "Men! Let today's forge work be adjourned. We have guests to attend to now. They may not necessarily be staying with us for very long, but we should nonetheless make sure they feel comfortable during their stay with us."

"Yes sir," all the other soldiers yelled in unison.

Omoros walked over to the amphitheater's entrance, gesturing for Aqualad and the rest of the Titans to follow him. "Come," he stated. "It is high time my men and I allowed you all to be given a proper welcome to this outpost."

 **And just like that, another chapter done! Well, it certainly looks like the Titans are in good hands for now. But let's not get too comfortable. After all, there are probably some amongst you who might think things are looking a little too convenient and seeming to work a little too well for the Titans at this early point in the story. But just how could things perhaps unfold from here? We'll just have to find out! Again, I hope you read and enjoyed this new chapter (and especially liked the trivia I ended up fitting in about Garth's past (made up of (with some pragmatic alterations) actual details of his canon backstory from the comics)), and I also hope you leave a decent amount of feedback (the minimum amount of reviews required for this new chapter before I allow the next one to be released is one, but I still strongly (and I mean STRONGLY) encourage ALL readers to leave at least some form of feedback (with the obvious exception of flames)). Furthermore, hope you all have a happy Valentine's Day! ^_^**

 **Coming up Next: For a brief moment, we take a break from the Titans themselves and see how things are unfolding back in Poseidonis with our favorite King of Atlantis who can perhaps now finally shed his lame joke character reputation from Superfriends now that he's had his very own wildly successful big screen movie. Sound fun? I certainly hope so! ^_^**


	7. On Their Own

**Hey everyone! Hope you all are ready for yet more awesome work from me, because here's the newest chapter! In this chapter, we take a brief break from the Titans to find out just how things are currently going for our favorite king of Atlantis who has hopefully finally gotten a much needed repair made to his reputation thanks to his most recent smash hit movie. Sound at least worth a read? I certainly hope so! I also very much hope you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, just to remind you all once more, I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else DC based. That all being said, onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 6:**

 **On Their Own**

Aquaman sighed in half exhaustion and half exasperation as he watched the view from the balcony of his palace. Throughout the entire city of Poseidonis, he could hear the sound of sharpening weapons, clanging hammers, and other preparations for battle. He clenched his right hand's grip around his trident, the sharp hook he had as a replacement for his left hand gleaming in the light of his bedchamber behind him. He had known that Atlantis would ultimately not accept Trident's offer of surrender. Quite frankly, the mere idea of surrendering, let alone to Trident of all enemies, would have been madness to consider. But even so, the fact that Trident had once again chosen to make a pest out of himself for Atlantis to deal with was not something that Aquaman found any amusement in. "Life would be so much easier now if that upstart had stayed frozen last year. Or better yet, if he'd never left that cavern he got sealed in five years ago."

The king of Atlantis took a deep breath to calm himself down. Wishing for more pleasant alternatives would not make his current problems go away. And right now, an especially irritating, yet also important, problem would rear its ugly head in full the very next day. In fact, considering how Trident had somehow managed to get ahold of both an army of Trench _and_ a naga to use as a mount, it was entirely likely that Trident would potentially be a considerably bigger threat this time then he'd been five years prior.

"Sire."

Aquaman tensed up, and turned around in time to see the captain of the royal guards standing outside the door to the bedchamber. The soldier winced. "If I may?"

Aquaman relaxed, and nodded his head. "You may enter." Both the guard and Aquaman entered the bedchamber itself. The king of Atlantis had a feeling that the guard had a good reason to want to speak to him at that moment. "How are the preparations?"

"They are going well my lord. Everyone's been working nonstop to make absolutely certain that we're as well prepared as possible for tomorrow's conflict."

"Good." The king thought to himself. "What about Garth? Has there been any sign of him?"

"I'm afraid not. We've all kept watch for him, and there's been no sign of him all day, or of any potential aid that he might have acquired for us. And neither have we heard anything from him."

Aquaman groaned. It was not like his former protégé to be missing like this; at least not on purpose. He unconsciously tightened his grip on his trident. It was entirely likely that Garth had been waylaid somehow.

"Should I send out a search party my lord?"

Aquaman sighed. "No. At any other time, I would say yes. But right now, the time for conflict is too close at hand, and Trident could yet try to pull a surprise attack on Poseidonis tonight before his official deadline ends tomorrow. We'll need everybody to stay here in Poseidonis for now to ensure that we have as strong of a defense as possible."

The king turned his head and looked out the exit to the balcony. "For now, we shall continue waiting to see if he arrives at all, let alone with any of the helpers he promised to bring. If he still hasn't made it back here by tomorrow, then we will definitely assume that something has happened to waylay him."

"And if that is in fact that case?" The guard clasped his hands together fingers intertwining. "From what you've said just now, won't it be too late at that point to risk sending any search parties out to look for him?"

"I'm afraid that now his absence from this battle is a risk we're just going to have to take for the time being. Like you said, we've received no word from him, and every attempt I've made to track his communicator with my own has been met with some sort of interference. In short, we have no idea where he is, and any attempt at searching for him could end up taking days. And right now, we barely even have minutes."

The king of Atlantis sighed, hung his head, and shook it side to side. At this point, he couldn't help but wonder how all of his hair hadn't turned from blonde to gray after all the stress he was currently under. "I do not like potentially leaving Garth out there any more then you do. But right now, there is too much at stake. The best we can do right now is to allow our forces to initiate conflict against Trident tomorrow without him. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll make enough progress to afford the risk of sending out a search party. Or better yet, Garth is a perfectly capable warrior in his own right, and doesn't need me around to guarantee his safety. For all we know, if he has been waylaid in any way, he may yet manage to fight his way out. And that's without taking the power of any helpers he may have brought along with him into consideration."

"If you say so my lord."

Aquaman nodded, and looked back at the guard. "For now, return to where you were. If at all possible, see if the preparations can continue being made for at least another half hour, maybe even a full hour. Regardless, once either of those two times are reached, or it becomes completely impossible to continue, I will want all of us to go to bed and get as much rest as possible. I trust that you and your men will be able to set up a sufficient watch for the night when that moment arrives?"

"That is correct. You can count on that."

"Good. Now go."

"Yes my lord."

The captain of the guard departed from the royal bedchamber. Once the guard had departed, Aquaman sighed, and shook his head from exhaustion. "My life was so much simpler back when I was merely a young boy assisting my father at the lighthouse." He looked to the ceiling of the bedchamber. Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder how his father was doing back at the lighthouse he worked at on the surface world.

At the sound of running feet and frantic voices, Aquaman mentally cursed. While the noises themselves were plenty of reason for him to become further stressed, he recognized both voices. One in particular, was all the more reason for him to dread what he now had a feeling was coming, something he'd already had to deal with multiple times over the last few days.

"Tramm, stop," yelled a female voice from the hallway outside the bed chamber. "I mean it! Neptune curse you, this isn't the time to bother his majesty with stuff like this!"

"I don't care," snapped another voice, this one a somewhat gravelly sounding male voice. "I need to speak to the king!"

The footsteps grew louder. Sure enough, a very familiar figure came leaping through the entrance to the bedchamber, skidding to a halt inches away from Aquaman upon landing. Mentally sighing, the king of Atlantis directed his gaze towards the panting figure now standing before him with his hands on his knees. "Good evening, Tramm."

The young humanoid fish lifted his head, a half angry and half sad look on his face. He pointed his finger at Aquaman, his amber eyes simultaneously blazing with rage and on the verge of tears. "You! You told me he'd be back by now!"

"Tramm," Aquaman said warningly.

"Where is he?!"

Tramm placed his right hand back on his right knee, shuddering from pent up rage and sadness and growling through his gritted teeth. "I've been waiting all day for Garth to return, and he still hasn't shown up! Where is he?!"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?! What do you mean you don't know! You can't not know!"

"Tramm, I'm sorry. But I don't know where he is."

"Lies!"

Tramm clenched his fists, his pupils narrowing and teeth clenching. "He promised he'd be back! You promised he'd be back! Where is he?!"

"Tramm, don't make this harder than it has to be."

Tramm only growled, and bent his knees. It seemed clear he was on the verge of losing his temper.

"Would La'gaan want you acting like this?"

"Don't you dare mention his name!"

Tramm slammed his right fist on the floor. "You told me he'd be back! You promised he'd be back! Garth said he'd be back! La'gaan. . ."

He paused, his mouth quivering as he visibly faltered in his speech, and he slipped down onto his knees. "My . . . brother . . . he said he'd be back. He promised . . . he'd . . . be . . . back."

In that instant, Aquaman heard running feet enter the room, and he lifted his head in time to see a teenage girl with short red hair burst into the room and slide to a stop right behind Tramm. She hesitated, trying to decide whether to hug Tramm and comfort him first, or speak to her king first. Then she got on her knees, placed her hands on the now crying Tramm's shoulders, and looked up to directly face Aquaman.

"My king," she said. "I'm so sorry. I tried to stop him. . ."

The king of Atlantis nodded. "It is alright Tula."

Tula nodded, and with whispered encouragement to Tramm, she was able to get the young humanoid fish back on his feet. As Tramm turned his head so that he was crying against her stomach, Tula looked back to Aquaman. "Your majesty," she stated. "Garth. Has he?"

The king of Atlantis shook his head, a somber look on his face.

Tula gulped. "I feared as much." She turned her head away from her king. "You'd better not be dead Garth," she thought to herself. "I've already had to lose one friend . . . one very good friend . . . this decade. I refuse to lose another."

Upon feeling Tramm tighten his arms around her, Tula decided that she could worry about Garth's whereabouts later, and she proceeded to gently escort Tramm back out of the royal bedchamber. "Come on Tramm," she whispered soothingly. "Let's get back to the armory."

"They promised they'd come back," Tramm whimpered as he slowly made his way back out of the royal bedchamber alongside Tula. "They promised. . ."

"I know. I know," said Tula. "I miss them to."

Tula and Tramm exited the royal bedchamber, only for none other than Queen Mera to enter seconds later. She turned her head to look in the direction that Tula and Tramm had taken, and then back at her husband. "I take it from Tramm's current emotions that Garth has not yet returned?"

Aquaman sighed, and sat down on the bed, shaking his head. "That is sadly the case. I wish that weren't true, but wishing such things will be of no help in making the opposite of reality come true."

Mere looked back in the direction Tramm and Tula had gone. "Are you certain it is the right thing to continue keeping Tramm in the armory while he's in his current state of mind?"

"To tell the truth, I am no longer certain of that myself."

Aquaman looked in the direction of the balcony. "Part of me thinks it could be useful to have him vent his emotions in battle. But at the same time, I do not wish to risk violating my promise to Garth and La'gaan that I would keep Tramm safe; especially not after how narrowly I avoided unintentionally breaking it through Tramm's getting captured last year by the so called Brotherhood of Evil." He hung his head. "And depending on what the reason behind Garth's current absence turns out to be, I could yet find more reason to want to keep Tramm out of danger."

Mera directed a sympathetic look towards her husband. She knew all too well what he meant. Much like him, she herself had been fairly strongly affected by the unfortunate events that had happened to many of the young Atlanteans he'd trained. She had been personally present alongside her husband and the others who'd attended Kaldur's funeral five years ago. She had also personally helped set up the first search parties to go looking for La'gaan after he'd first gone missing the previous year. Now, she would be just as worried about Garth as her husband in the event that anything terrible turned out to have happened to him. But at the same time, she knew that his current plans on potentially continuing to keep Tramm in the armory could yet do more harm than good.

She sat down next to her husband on the bed. "You care greatly for the young Atlantean warriors you've trained my love," she said. "So do I. But sometimes, you have to be willing to take risks for their safety. Keeping him in the armory may have been enough to keep Tramm distracted from his brother's absence early last year; but now, it is clear that he's suffering from staying in there working instead of venting his emotions in battle or actively seeking out La'gaan. Furthermore, I know Tula very well, and I can tell that she'd be much better suited to actively fighting in the coming combat then staying at the palace to babysit Tramm."

Aquaman sighed. "I know, but that doesn't make things any easier." He shook his head. "I already can't help but wonder if I'll feel like this towards our son when he grows old enough to reach the same age as them." He looked at Mera. "Now that I mention it, where _is_ Artur?"

"Asleep in his room." Mera gestured towards the outside of their bedchamber. "And he appears to be quite aware that you are under some sort of stress."

Aquaman mentally cursed. The last thing he wanted was for his soon to be 9-year-old son to have any more reason to be worried then he would already have with the coming conflict.

Mera placed her hand on her husband's shoulder. "Regardless of whether Garth manages to return at all, you will need to make a firm decision on whether you truly want to continue to keep Tramm relegated to work in the armory."

"And I will. But not right now."

Aquaman directed his gaze back towards the balcony. "All that said, I can only hope right now that Garth will indeed safely return within the near future, preferably with help."

"We're not entirely helpless without him and any help he could bring my love."

"I know, but any assistance he and potential helpers could offer would be especially useful. Nevertheless, until such time as Garth and any potential assistance he finds arrive, I'm afraid we're going to be on our own in this coming battle."

Mera directed her own gaze towards the balcony. "Do you truly believe outside assistance will be necessary? This is Trident we're talking about."

"Trident may be the foe declaring war against us," Aquaman admitted. "But it is never wise to underestimate an opponent. He may have been a comparatively easy foe to drive off the last time he attacked Atlantis, but that was five years ago. Poseidon knows how much time he may have had to improve his fighting skills since then. And even back then, he still managed to kill Kaldur. And considering how he currently appears to have an army of Trench _and_ a naga at his beck and call, it could yet be reasonable to presume that he'll be a much more dangerous foe this time around. Make no mistake Mera, I have every reason to believe that the coming conflict will not be one that will be easily resolved within a single day."

. . . . .

Several miles outside Poseidonis, Trident was watching the city alongside his army and mount. The Trench warriors were all snarling and hissing as they gazed at the underwater city, their clawed fingernails extended and glowing in the light of the moon and stars above the ocean's surface. The naga, while behaving far more calmly at the moment then all the Trench, nonetheless had its eyes narrowed and was allowing a low rumble to come from its throat and had its claws jammed into the seafloor it was standing upon.

Trident, however, cared little about what was on the minds of his army and mount. All that mattered to him now was how little time he now had left to wait before he finally resumed his efforts at achieving his long desired goal. He briefly clenched his right fist around his trident. He could remember now the days in which he'd been little more than a minor official amongst the Atlantean political environment, how bored and unfulfilled he'd felt the entire time, and how much he'd yearned to be more than just the big fish in a small pond he viewed himself to be while in that position.

The villain shook his head. Now was not the time to reminisce over a time he'd rather forget. Now was the time to look ahead to the future. It had taken far longer so far to reach this point then he'd originally planned. But nevertheless, the moment he'd long waited for was nigh. As of this night, it would not be much longer before his days as a big fish in a small pond were over. Regardless of how long it took, once the conflict tomorrow finally ended, he would be the undisputed king of all of Atlantis.

"Say your prayers, King Orrin," he mentally growled to himself, his left hand clenching around a small red circular gemstone. "For starting tomorrow, your days as king are numbered. One way or another, come the end of this battle, you will fall; and I, will rise, as the new king."

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I hope you all found this chapter at least worth a read after the relatively long wait (and I especially hope I did a good job with Tramm and Tula; not to mention did a good enough job at capturing the emotions I was working to have Tramm feel in light of the current situation regarding La'gaan and Garth now missing from his life). And I especially hope you enjoyed reading the chapter and leave plenty of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of one review for this new chapter before I allow the next one to be posted; though I also strongly encourage that EVERYONE who reads this chapter leave some sort of feedback (that is NOT a flame), even if its just a single sentence of encouragement like 'awesome chapter' or 'great job' or anything else. Seriously, simple or complex, ANY feedback (that's NOT a flame) will be acceptable here!). All in all, hope you enjoy!**

 **Coming up Next: Back at the alleged old Atlantean military outpost, the titans are treated to a 'welcome banquet' by Omoros and his men.**


	8. The Banquet

**Hey ya'll! Hope you're ready for more of my work, because here's a brand new chapter! In this chapter, we return to the Titans in time for them to be treated to a welcome banquet by Omoros and his men. How shall things unfold from here? Here's hoping you read, review, and enjoy! And considering how I'm still in a pretty good mood from managing to see Captain Marvel (yet another Marvel-ous movie for the MCU) last Friday night (the day it was released in theaters no less!), I'd be especially happy to hear what you all have to say about my work (but again, NO FLAMES!).**

 **A/N: Quick reminder, I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else explicitly found in DC canon. That out of the way, onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 7:**

 **The Banquet**

"You really didn't need to go all out like this."

"Nonsense. You are our guests, and you deserve our utmost best hospitality."

At that moment, the Titans were seated alongside Omoros and his men in a large banquet hall, with the Atlanteans mostly busy dining on various Atlantean dishes while listening to the Titans talk.

"You say you've faced Trident before," one of the soldiers said to Beast Boy. "What was he like?"

"He certainly had a high opinion of himself," the changeling responded. "Very high considering he chose to make an entire army out of clones of himself."

"Really?"

"You bet. And they all shared his own high opinion. In fact, they were all so equally arrogant that they all believed themselves to be the original Trident!"

"That certainly sounds like him."

"Here, here!"

Cyborg, meanwhile, was having a discussion of his own with the soldiers.

"So you are a mechanic?"

"You kidding? Sure am!"

Cyborg took a look at the various cybernetic parts of his body. "I mean, no offense, but I kind of have to be all things considered."

"No offense taken," said the soldier who'd asked, a thoughtful look coming onto his face and a finger on his chin as he gazed intently at Cyborg's mechanical parts.

Terra narrowed her eyes as she watched this particular soldier. She couldn't help but feel that there was something off about the look in his eyes.

The soldier sitting to the other side of Cyborg gestured towards Cyborg's untouched plate of kelp. "Are you sure you don't wish to eat anything?"

Cyborg shook his head. "No thanks. Really, I do appreciate the offer, but I'm good."

"If you say so."

The soldier who'd offered resumed his dining on his own kelp dish, and Cyborg continued his talk. But Terra couldn't help but notice how the one soldier in particular still seemed to maintain an unhealthy interest in Cyborg's mechanical parts.

Starfire, meanwhile, was likewise engaged in a discussion with several of the soldiers. "Please," she began, "out of curiosity, would you happen to be aware of the missing brother of the one called Tramm?"

"Indeed we are."

The soldier who'd responded shook his head solemnly, his eyes closed. "Our hearts go out to Tramm, and we hope very much that La'gaan is found in the near future."

"I am most glad to hear that; for I myself know particularly well how Tramm must be feeling. Not too long ago, I myself was reunited with my own long lost brother; and I hope very much that Tramm will have the same turn of good fortune befall him."

"As do we," said the soldier next to the one Starfire had originally been talking to, turning his head to face the other soldier next to him in the process.

Aqualad raised his eyebrow at the sight of this, but then turned his head towards a different area of the room after hearing Raven ask a particularly important question.

"These caverns you live in, have they had any history involving a cult?"

The soldier sitting closest to Raven's position raised his eyebrow. "What makes you ask that?"

"In one of the tunnels," Raven explained. "There was a drawing of a large star and Atlantean glyphs written underneath that described something to do with an 'abyssal star' and how it treated its followers and enemies. It sounded very much like something a cult would write."

"Oh, that." The soldier nodded his head. "Now that you mention it, yes, there was once a cult that lived in these caverns before us. The 'abyssal star' you mentioned was the 'deity' they worshipped."

"That's putting it lightly," said another soldier. "The members of this cult? They were fanatics! You should see the fanciful nonsense they rambled on about in their scriptures and other documents!"

"No kidding! I still can't get the hymns they wrote in honor of the 'abyssal star' out of my head! And don't get me started on the entire paragraphs they have in their scriptures about how the literal touch of this star upon their skin could give them enlightenment, fill them with its infinite wisdom, and allow them to be guided to the promised land!"

Upon hearing this, Aqualad turned his attention away from Raven's discussion. Robin, however, carefully made note of this information he'd just heard in his mind while letting his face remain impassive from the outside. He had no idea why, but this information he'd just heard about the 'abyssal star', especially the details involving its touch, seemed strangely familiar to him for some reason. The boy wonder felt a tap on his shoulder, and he turned his head to face the soldier next to him.

"Garth has mentioned that he had several friends amongst the surface dwellers before he joined this 'titans' group. From the descriptions he gave of those friends, it seems clear that you are one of them. Is that correct?"

Robin thought to himself. "Yes. It is." He saw no harm in admitting to this fact.

"Tell me then," said the soldier. "What was it like in those days?"

Robin raised his eyebrow, confused as to why this soldier would have such interest in the current topic.

Terra, meanwhile, despite her own suspicion about the soldiers talking with Cyborg, was now engaged in a conversation with the soldiers sitting near her about a topic she thought to have much less reason for suspicion.

"So it's true then? The gossip we've heard from Atlantis about you and Garth?"

Terra chuckled and rubbed her fingers through her hair. "Well, some of it I'm sure is exaggerated. But yes, I am indeed Garth's girlfriend."

"Not his betrothed?"

"Not yet. Garth and I feel like spending a good few years dating first before we agree to anything like that. But trust me, in the event that we marry, it really doesn't matter how long it takes for it to happen as long as we both love each other; and I know I love him."

"Sounds good enough to me." The soldier who'd spoken nodded his head. "Poseidon knows he needs someone of his own to love and be loved by after all the drama that unfolded in everyone's lives over Kaldur and Tula."

"I just hope that Tula doesn't feel jealous or similarly unhappy about me when I meet her."

"Why would she be? She doesn't love Garth the way you do. And Garth certainly doesn't have that crush he used to have on her anymore."

"I know that, but that doesn't change the fact that, so far, Garth and I are both alive and able to spend our lives together. Her own betrothed died five years ago while they were still waiting to become of age to marry."

"So?"

"Use your head. Her best friend is still able to potentially live happily ever after ever with the person he loves while she has to spend the rest of her life alone because of how the man she loved died young before they even had a chance to marry. Don't you see how unhappy that could make her feel if she meets me and sees me with Garth?"

The soldier thought to himself. "I suppose that's true. Forgive me for my thoughtlessness."

"I'll think that request over."

At the same time all this was happening, Omoros and Garth continued their own discussion. "Forgive me for my men's behavior. We don't often leave this cavern."

"I guessed as much."

"If it makes you feel any better, you have my condolences for Kaldur's death. And next time you see Tula, tell her that she has them as well."

The conversations continued; and while this happened, Robin, Terra, and Aqualad continued to take note of various details in their friends' conversations as well as their own that they couldn't help but find suspicious. The other founding Titans, meanwhile, seemed completely oblivious to these details as they continued talking with the soldiers. Eventually, Aqualad decided it was time to change the subject. He felt like he'd gathered enough information and talked with Omoros about Kaldur and the state of affairs at Atlantis long enough.

"Omoros," he began. "About when will you be sending that squadron you promised to send to pass the message to King Orrin?"

Omoros seemed to understand that Aqualad was not in the mood for messing around, and the commander nodded his head. "Fear not, I shall send the promised messengers out immediately after this banquet. If we're lucky, they should make it to Atlantis and safely return to this cavern within 2 or 3 days."

"You are certain of this?"

"You have my word."

"Very well. But I'm holding you to that."

The two Atlanteans nodded, and turned their heads to face the rest of the room's occupants. Aqualad filed all the information he'd gathered to the back of his mind, hoping that he would not find it necessary to bring it up to his friends.

 **And just like that, another chapter done! Admittedly, this chapter does somewhat count as 'filler' from a certain point of view. But nonetheless, it's another step forward in allowing this 'episode' to unfold. All that said, just** ** _how_** **will things unfold from here on out? We'll just have to find out later everyone! Here's to hoping you read and enjoyed this chapter, and that you leave plenty of feedback (SERIOUSLY, I** ** _NEED_** **THE EXTRA MOTIVATION!). Remember, I require a bare MINIMUM of ONE review for this new chapter before I allow the next chapter to be posted. Again, hope you all had fun and look forward to what comes next!**

 **Coming up Next: With almost three full days having passed since the messenger squadron Omoros promised to send to Poseidonis supposedly left to spread word of the Titans' plight to Aquaman, yet no further development on the matter having occurred since that day, Aqualad can't help but feel not only like there's something wrong, but that Omoros and his men may very well know more then their letting on. And he's not the only Titan in the area to feel this way either. Simply put,** ** _are_** **Omoros and his men truly as trustworthy as they currently appear to be making themselves out to be? Or have the Titans only ended up stumbling into a potentially even bigger problem then the one that got them to the outpost in the 1st place?**


	9. Something's Not Right

**Hey everyone! Ready for more Teen Titanic awesomeness? I certainly hope so, because here's a new chapter! And in this chapter, which I hope will be much more entertaining and less 'filler'ish then the previous chapter, almost 3 full days have passed since Omoros supposedly sent a messenger squad to Poseidonis to spread word of the Titans' plight to Aquaman . . . and yet there still hasn't been any subsequent word from said squad. And now Aqualad can't help but worry if perhaps Omoros and his men aren't entirely as trustworthy as they make themselves out to be. And as he soon discovers, he's not the only Titan in the area to have such suspicions. Just what** ** _is_** **going on in this outpost? Sound worth trying to find out? Let's hope you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But remember, I do not own Teen Titans or anything else explicitly DC-based. That out of the way, onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 8:**

 **Something's Not Right**

Aqualad was not in the best of moods. As he sat in the amphitheater alongside Terra, and Beast Boy, the young Atlantean completely failed to pay much attention to the discussion going on between his 2 friends. His mind was currently too focused on how this was the 3rd day since the Titans' arrival at the Atlantean military outpost . . . and yet there had still not been any word from the messenger squad that Omoros had promised to send to Atlantis. He looked towards the entrance to the amphitheater, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. What _was_ taking the messengers so long?

"Garth?"

Aqualad snapped out of his thoughts upon abruptly hearing Terra's voice, and he turned his head to face her. He mentally winced upon sight of the expectant look on his girlfriend's face. It appeared as if she'd asked him a question and he hadn't heard what she'd said.

"Sorry, I zoned out for a while. What did you say?"

Terra took a deep breath, and then exhaled. Patiently, she repeated her question.

"Garth, Beast Boy was wondering if he and the rest of the founders would be allowed to meet Tula alongside me and you. Would that be ok, and if so, when?"

Aqualad thought to himself, trying desperately to figure out what to say. "I have no idea. Maybe immediately after Trident's defeat if she's present during the celebration. Or maybe a couple days after the trident so as to allow her a chance to reacclimatize to peace time. Assuming we all even stay in Atlantis for that long after Trident's defeat." He groaned, and hung his head, pinching his nose. "By Neptune, this is insane."

Beast Boy and Terra looked each other in the eyes, and then back at Aqualad, a concerned look on their faces. "Garth? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine."

"You sure about that?"

"Yes Beast Boy. I'm fine."

"I don't know dude. You seem awfully distracted right now."

Aqualad sighed, and shook his head. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. With everything going on in Atlantis right now and how long it's taking for us to get there and give it the help it potentially needs from us, it would certainly make sense for me to be distracted if I am."

He paused, thinking to himself. "You know what, who am I kidding? Excuse me."

He got up from his seat and began walking towards the exit to the amphitheater. "I'll be right back. There's something I feel like I _really_ need to talk to Omoros about right now."

Beast Boy and Terra watched the exit for a minute after Aqualad had already departed. The changeling turned his head to face Terra. "Yep. He's definitely distracted right now."

Terra rolled her eyes and directed a withering glare at Beast Boy. Nevertheless, she made sure to file her boyfriend's distracted behavior within her brain. She had a feeling that there was plenty of reason to justify her boyfriend's current state of mind.

"Can't say I blame him though. I mean, there is currently a war going on between Trident and Atlantis right now; not to mention there's plenty of shifty looking activity going on around here."

Terra raised her eyebrow, interested by what Beast Boy had just said. "What do you mean?"

Beast Boy raised his eyebrow. "You mean you didn't notice?"

. . . . .

"What do you mean there's no need to worry?"

Omoros took a deep breath, exhaled, and then gestured for Aqualad to calm down. "What I said, was that there's no need to worry _yet_."

"You also said that the messenger squadron you sent should have been back here within 2 or 3 days! Well today's the third day since their departure, and they're still not back yet! All that in mind, how can you say that there's not yet any need to worry?"

"Well as you can see, this day is not over yet. The messenger squad may yet arrive."

"May arrive? I'm sorry, but it's gonna take a lot stronger then that to reassure me right now."

"Well I'm sorry, but that's all I can give you. Be reasonable. There's a _war_ going on in Atlantis right now. The messengers may yet be still at Poseidonis waiting for an ideal time to leave because of all the fighting going on. And that's assuming they're even at Poseidonis right now. After all, all the fighting likely going on there could just as easily be serving as a roadblock preventing them from entering the city."

Aqualad thought to himself, and winced as he realized that Omoros had brought up some valid points.

"Fair enough. But even with those possibilities in mind, those are under the assumption that the messengers are even alive! For all we know, they could be dead or dying right now! And if that's true, then we may never get a response from them! Or worse, King Orrin and the rest of Poseidonis may not have even gotten the message at all!"

"A legitimate concern. Nevertheless, I insist that we still wait until after midnight tonight before we go out to look into the matter."

It took all of Aqualad's willpower to refrain from tearing his hear out and screaming. "Why?"

Even as he said this, Aqualad fought to keep his cool. All his instincts were screaming that action needed to be taken immediately to make sure that the promised messenger squad had safely arrived at Poseidonis and passed the request for aid that he and his friends needed in order to leave the Atlantean military outpost and hopefully arrive at Poseidonis in time to provide King Orrin and his army some much needed aid in return. But instead, he was standing here being told to wait for just a few hours more, hours that he was now feeling increasingly doubtful he or Atlantis could afford to spend waiting. And to make matters worse, the man he was currently speaking to, the one who had seemed the most reliable, trustworthy, and understanding of the urgency of the situation three nights prior, was now also acting so obstructive over the whole mess. Quite frankly, Aqualad couldn't fathom any logical sense behind Omoros' current suggestion to continue waiting.

Omoros sighed, and shook his head, his golden hair rustling around as he did so. "Look Garth, I understand how distressed you are feeling. And believe me, I'm plenty tempted to go out to Poseidon myself alongside all my remaining men here to check on the status of the messenger squad right this instant."

"Then why haven't you done exactly that?"

"Because it would be a disservice to the messenger squad to do it this early!"

"How?!"

"For a very simple, and quite annoying, reason."

Omoros lifted his head to directly face Aqualad in the eyes. "You lived amongst us in Atlantis for many years of your life. Surely you can remember how prideful the majority of Atlantean soldiers tend to be?"

Aqualad thought to himself, and then begrudgingly nodded his head in the affirmative with a grimace on his face. "Yes," he managed to groan.

"Then surely you can understand why it is best that we respect that by waiting until tomorrow before we go off to seek out the messenger squad. As much as I wish to disregard this standard rule, the soldiers in that squad are too proud and confident in their own abilities to accept any help coming to aid them any earlier then tomorrow. The rest of my soldiers, likewise, are too proud and confident in their allies to dare disrespect their wishes. And while I have the authority to force them to accompany me in search of the messenger squad now, I respect them too much. And I will not abuse my authority like a tyrant to force them into something they do not yet want."

The commander nodded his head. "I apologize once more for this inconvenience Garth. But I simply respect my troops too much. Because of that, all I ask is that you allow us to wait till exactly tomorrow. And if the messenger squad _still_ hasn't returned by that point, then I _will_ assemble the rest of the troops and head off to Atlantis with them to rectify whatever it is that has gone wrong in their efforts. You have my word on that. Will that be acceptable for you?"

Aqualad hesitated, thinking to himself. On the one hand, Omoros had made what seemed like a reasonable enough argument as well as a seemingly trustworthy offer to make a final day of waiting somewhat worthwhile. But at the same time, his instincts were even now screaming that something still just wasn't quite right about the situation. Then he took one look at Omoros and made his decision.

"Yes. It will."

As much as he disagreed with what Omoros had currently suggested, Aqualad currently believed it wiser to play along for the moment. If Omoros turned out to be untrustworthy, then playing along would give him less reason to be suspicious, assuming he hadn't already received plenty. If Omoros turned out to be trustworthy, then continuing to resist his suggestions would only make Aqualad and the rest of the Titans seem ungrateful for the hospitality they'd been treated with.

As he had that thought, Aqualad respectfully bowed his head. "I apologize if I sounded ungrateful and impatient earlier. My worries about what could be happening to Atlantis and its people right now appear to have started to really get to my head."

"I understand, and fear not. I have taken no offense. And again, if my messenger squad still hasn't returned by midnight, I will arrange for all of my men to accompany me to sort out whatever mess may have unfolded. I promise you that."

"And I accept that promise."

Aqualad looked behind him. "I think I'd best return to my friends. I kind of left them hanging when I went to talk to you just now."

"You do that."

Aqualad departed, Omoros watching with a small smile on his face. This same smile left his face after Aqualad had departed from his sight, turning into a wary look of suspicion. He reached into a pocket within his armor and drew out a purple talisman with the outline of a star emblazoned upon the center. The talisman glowed with an unnerving purple aura.

. . . . .

Aqualad walked calmly through the outpost, trying his best to find his way back to where he'd left Terra and Beast Boy. "I've waited long enough," he thought to himself. "I need to talk to the other Titans about my suspicions and see if we can get to work on making an investigation."

Someone grabbed him by the right arm and dragged him to the side from a nearby 'alley'. He grunted in surprise as he unwillingly entered the alley, only to feel both relieved and annoyed when he saw that the person who'd grabbed him was none other than Terra.

His girlfriend smiled, her blue eyes agleam. "Hey there Garth."

"Nice to see you to Tara, but did you really have to . . .?"

"Shh." Terra pointed to the outside of the alley in time for her and Aqualad to notice a small group of soldiers walk by, too engrossed in their own conversation to notice the two Titans inside the alley. When the soldiers were gone, Terra looked back at her Atlantean boyfriend. "Sorry about that, I wanted to be certain that no one would be around to watch or eavesdrop before I had this talk with you."

This was all Aqualad needed to hear. "You have my attention."

Terra took a deep breath. "First things first, I apologize in advance if this offends you. But I have a very bad feeling about Omoros and his men. I mean, I know they're your countrymen and all . . ."

"I agree with you."

"But with everything that's happened the last couple days . . . say what now?"

"I think you're right. I don't trust them either."

The Atlantean checked the entrance to the alley. "Yes, I was willing to give these guys the benefit of the doubt at first. But now? It's been almost 3 full days since the messenger squad supposedly departed to bring word to King Orrin of our plight, and as reasonable as Omoros sounds with the counterpoints he gave me not too long ago, I just have this gut feeling that tells me there's something else going on around here that the people in this outpost don't want us to know about."

"Well you're certainly not the only one with a feeling like that right now," said Terra. She nodded her head, rubbing her fingers through her long golden hair. "And that, combined with all the unscrupulous looking activity we've all noticed going on around here, ought to be all you need to support that gut feeling of yours."

Aqualad raised his eyebrow, clearly interested. "Oh really? Do enlighten me."

. . . . .

"I'm listening," said Robin.

Terra looked to Aqualad, her facial expression silently asking for him to begin. Her boyfriend obliged, but not before quickly looking around to make sure that Robin, Terra, and himself were indeed the only people currently present in the cavern tunnel they were currently meeting within.

"Well for starters, this is the 3rd day we've found ourselves staying at this outpost since the T-sub's crash, and Omoros promised me the day we arrived here that the messenger squad he sent would be back by now if we were lucky. And even though he's promised to go search for them alongside the entirety of his remaining forces tomorrow if the messenger squad hasn't returned by midnight, I just can't shake off this feeling I have that there's something else besides any form of bad luck at work behind how long we've currently been waiting. And as I've already stated, I also have a feeling that Omoros may or may not be involved somehow."

"He's not the only one who feels that way." Terra nodded her head. "I don't trust him either. I know he and his men have been very hospitable towards us. But hospitable or not, that doesn't change the fact that he and his men don't seem anywhere near worried enough about how long it's taking for the messenger squad they sent to return; and that's assuming they even sent a messenger squad at all. And trust me," she lifted her finger, "Aqualad and I? We've got plenty of evidence to back up our suspicions alongside this current gut feeling we share; and we're not the only Titans who've been getting suspicious about the current situation either. Your fellow founders? They've found plenty of reason to feel suspicious themselves over the last couple of days."

The boy wonder raised his eyebrow. Truth be told, he himself was feeling plenty suspicious about the current events himself, but he certainly wouldn't turn down the chance to hear about any possibly similar suspicions his friends had. "Enlighten me."

Aqualad looked to Terra, who nodded her head. "We first found reason to be suspicious as early as the welcome banquet we attended the night of our arrival. For example, I noticed that at least one of the soldiers Cyborg spoke to that night seemed rather interested in Cyborg's mechanical parts and the tech used to make them, and not necessarily in a good way. Furthermore, a bunch of the ones _I_ talked to seemed to have rather low, if any, empathy for Tula regarding to Kaldur's death. Not to mention they also seemed to be rather dismissive and skeptical about whether or not the way Garth and I feel for each other is truly genuine. I know that might not sound like compelling evidence, but the way they were talking about that made it seem as if they were considering whether or not it would be a bad thing on that end if something terrible were to happen to either of us . . . likely something terrible they themselves potentially plan to subject us to."

"She wasn't the only who got suspicious during the banquet," Aqualad broke in. "Me? Well first, I noticed the way two of the soldiers Starfire spoke with behaved. Specifically, after Starfire made clear how she hoped that Tramm would be lucky enough to reunite with La'gaan in the near future, the two soldiers in question agreed, and then looked each other in the eyes with a look that I can't help but feel seemed as if they knew something about La'gaan's whereabouts and wanted to keep it a secret. And what Terra said about one of the soldiers seeming a little _too_ interested in Cyborg? He's not the only one who got subjected to that level of interest. Several of the soldiers talking to Beast Boy seemed more than a little unhealthily interested in learning about his powers. That may not sound too big of a deal, but the way they were talking combined with some of the specific questions they were asking . . ."

"Let me guess," said Terra. "All that was enough to make it seem as if they were perhaps trying to surreptitiously try to see if they could find some way to use Beast Boy himself or recreate his powers elsewhere for them to use?"

"Exactly!" Aqualad looked at Terra. "I'm guessing you noticed that too?"

"Not just me." Terra folded her arms across her chest. "According to what Beast Boy told me after you left to meet up with Omoros. Apparently, those same soldiers who seemed so interested in his powers at the banquet have continued to ask him more and more questions about them over the last few days. And not only that, but he also tells me that some of them have been trying to get him to make demonstrations for them as free entertainment!"

Aqualad silently whistled. He certainly hadn't been aware of _that_ detail. But then he and Terra both found themselves surprised when Robin nodded his head. "It seems I'm not the only one who noticed that."

"You saw that to?" Terra asked.

"Yep, and that's not all."

The Boy Wonder lifted his head to face Aqualad and Terra in the eyes. "For starters, Cyborg told me last night that he caught sight of several soldiers in the armory that appeared to be going over what looked like blueprints for weapons, armor, and technology similar to his own tech. And from what he heard them saying when he stuck around to eavesdrop, it seemed as if they weren't too keen on letting anyone else know about that." He directed his gaze a little more towards Terra. "And judging by the look on your face right now, I'm guessing that Beast Boy overheard Cyborg telling me that and told you about it today."

"Hit the nail right on the head."

"Did Raven mention anything suspicious to you?"

Robin looked over at Aqualad. "Yes. As a matter of fact she did. Why do you ask?"

"Did it have anything to do with magic? Specifically, anything related to glamours?"

"She told you to huh?"

"Yes. She also told Beast Boy." Aqualad pointed at Terra. "Who told her earlier today."

"Why am I not surprised?" Robin shook his head to get his thoughts back together. "Well regardless, yes, Raven did mention something about glamours. Granted, she doesn't yet know for certain that what she detected was in fact a glamour spell, but she did mention that she's been able to detect a clear presence of at least some sort of magical spell all throughout the caverns, and she says that this specific presence feels very similar to the output she usually detects from most surface world glamour spells. She also said the only reason she doesn't yet feel certain is because she isn't as familiar with Atlantean magic as she is with most other forms of magic. Not to mention;" he lifted his finger. "In the event that she _has_ in fact detected a glamour, she has not yet been able to fully pinpoint where it is and who or what it would be affecting. Regardless, the fact that she's detecting magic present in this area at all is plenty of reason for suspicion on its own. And I do believe you can tell me why."

"Well," Terra began. "If I remember Garth's Atlantean culture lessons he gave me correctly, the people who serve as standard soldiers in Atlantean armies are always people who don't have any magical powers."

"I did hear some of the soldiers talking over the last few days about how the cultists that reportedly used to live in these caverns had magical powers, but that all of the magic that could have ever been left lingering following their departure would have faded away entirely by now."

"That's right," said Robin. "And with that in mind, the fact that Raven has detected magic active and present in these caverns can only mean one of the following options: either the inhabitants of this outpost simply aren't aware of this magic being present . . ."

"Or they're hiding something," said Aqualad.

"Exactly." The Boy Wonder nodded his head. "And speaking of that cult that reportedly used to live here, you remember what they said about this 'abyssal star' they worshipped?"

"Yes," said Terra.

"What she said," Aqualad responded. "What about it?"

Robin took a deep breath. "I'm not really sure why," he admitted. "But that stuff the soldiers said about it; particularly about its touch? For some reason that description sounds awfully familiar to me."

"You think you may have encountered something like it before?" Terra asked.

"No, I'm pretty sure I haven't." Robin sighed. "But I have been wrong before. And even if I haven't personally met anything like it before, I wouldn't be surprised if Batman encountered something like that in his adventures with the League; and if that's the case, then if it happened before I split with him, he almost certainly told me about it at some point. I just wish I could remember."

"Well regardless how long it takes for you to remember, I think I know one thing we can definitely agree on right now."

Aqualad rammed his right fist into his left palm. "Regardless of whether or not Omoros keeps his word tomorrow, we can't keep waiting like this. Atlantis is in trouble. And as much as I would like to believe otherwise, the current evidence indicates way too strongly that Omoros and his men are hiding something from us. We need to investigate this place, find out what's going on, and figure out someway for us to get out of here and reach Poseidonis."

"I don't know Garth," said Terra, worry clear in her voice. "I mean, those first two tasks sound relatively easy enough, but that last one? I'm pretty sure that's gonna be a lot easier said than done in the current circumstances."

"We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there," said Robin. "And who knows? Maybe there's already a solution to that problem right here in these caverns that's being kept hidden from us as well. Regardless though, we can worry about that after we've done some investigating and figured out exactly what's going on around this outpost." He looked at Aqualad. "Aqualad, you know environments like this best. Any ideas on how you think we should best go about investigating this place?"

The young Atlantean thought to himself. "I think I might have an idea. But I think we should all be meeting together to hear it before I tell you about it."

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I'll admit, it's certainly not an action packed thrill ride, but hopefully this chapter nonetheless proves a decent amount more interesting and attention-grabbing then the previous chapter. After all, with this chapter, I do say I appear to have gotten a somewhat decent bit of mystery and intrigue set up. So many suspicious details and elements have been noticed around the outpost by the Titans, and Omoros and his men certainly seem to be acting like they've got something to hide. So many questions now. Can the Titans find the answers? And for that matter, does Atlantis have enough time to allow the Titans to find these answers? Only one way to find out everyone! Here's hoping you read and enjoyed this brand new chapter, and that you leave decent feedback (remember, this chapter requires an exact minimum of one review in order for me to allow the next chapter to be posted). All in all, hope this chapter is worth the wait and makes up for the underwhelming previous chapter.**

 **Coming up Next: We briefly make another detour to Atlantis to see just how things are currently unfolding for Aquaman and everyone else present at Poseidonis now that Trident has initiated his war on Atlantis.**


	10. A Last Resort at the Ready

**Hey there everybody! Hope y'all are ready for more, because here's a new chapter! In this new chapter, we briefly cut back to Atlantis to see how things are going for the King of Atlantis in their war against Trident and his Trench army. Sound worth a read? I certainly hope so! I also hope you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, let me remind you that I do not own Teen Titans or anything else explicitly included in DC canon. That being said, onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 9:**

 **A Last Resort at the Ready**

Aquaman slammed his fist on the right armrest of his throne, snarling in frustration. "Blast it all," he growled.

"I take it you are not pleased with the news Topo has given us?"

The king of Atlantis pinched his nose, sighing heavily. "No, I am not."

Over the past two days, Trident and his army of Trench had, as Aquaman had feared, proven quite dangerous and formidable opponents. Naturally, they had so far only continued to be that way for the entirety of the current day. Unfortunately, even Aquaman hadn't fully expected them to turn out to be quite as tough as they'd ultimately turned out to be.

Over the last few days, Trident had rarely done any direct attacking himself. Instead, he'd largely left the heavy lifting to be handled by his Trench army and the naga he now used as a mount. The naga itself also very rarely ever took direct part in the fighting, only coming into action whenever the Atlanteans reached a point where they were making progress in successfully fighting off the Trench warriors and driving them back. But every time the naga _did_ come into the picture, the end result always turned out to be several Atlantean soldiers losing their lives and the rest being forced to pull back from their assault on the Trench warriors and possibly even retreat from whatever position they'd taken before the naga's arrival.

The Trench warriors were hardly any less difficult to deal with, even by their usual standards. Naturally, the fact that they were always fighting in groups added to their formidability; a fact that the Poseidonis soldiers did not find at all surprising. However, what had ultimately caused the Trench to turn out far more difficult to deal with then expected was a strange factor that allowed Aquaman to even now suspect that there was someone else providing some form of unseen aid to Trident.

With every fight that had occurred, Aquaman's forces had started out seemingly with an easy shot at victory. But then, by the end of the first few minutes, the Trench warriors would suddenly glow with an unnerving blood red aura. And from that point onward, the fight would rapidly turn around in their favor as they suddenly gained a massive boost in strength, toughness, and similar athletic attributes while encased in this aura. Every time this happened, the battle always ended with Aquaman's forces being overwhelmed and forced to flee by the practically victorious Trench warriors attacking. And even when it seemed like the Poseidonis soldiers would perhaps pull through and successfully fight off the Trench warriors despite the odds, the Trench warriors would still end up getting the last laugh by receiving unfair aid from Trident's naga.

Halfway through the 2nd day of the conflict, Aquaman had started to grow sick of this humiliation, and had sent his faithful octopus companion Topo to scout behind the enemy lines and see if he could figure out the source of the unexpected powerup. Now, halfway through the 3rd day of conflict, Topo had finally managed to return to the home side with answers. Unfortunately, not only was the answer something that would ultimately prove similarly difficult to overcome, but it had also come at the cost of yet more humiliating forced withdrawals unfolding in the time that had been spent waiting for Topo to return with the information.

As Topo had telepathically revealed to the king of Atlantis upon his return from his spy mission, the unnatural boost in strength and similar physical abilities that the Trench warriors kept receiving were being provided by a corporeal anchor. After various tries, Topo had eventually managed to get in a position that finally allowed him to see undeniable proof and confirmation. He had used his natural camouflage to blend in against a large rock in between the cliff where Trident and his naga mount were positioned and overlooking the conflict and an area where a squadron of Trench warriors and a similarly sized squadron of Poseidonis soldiers would end up fighting.

When the two squadrons of warriors had started fighting, the octopus had initially kept his gaze on the battle, but had turned his head to face Trident's direction upon catching sight of movement from Trident out of the corner of his eyes. As it turned out, Topo had ended up looking in Trident's direction just in time, for the villainous Tritonian had drawn out what looked like a small circular red gem stone and lifted it above his head. Topo had only had a few seconds to wonder what the gem stone was before said gem stone had begun to glow with an unnerving bright red light. Topo's eyes had instantly widened in recognition upon sight of the gem starting to glow, and he'd looked back in the direction of the two battling squadrons just in time for the Trench warriors to become encased in the distinctive aura that he could now see was the exact same shade of red as the aura that had surrounded the gem. From that point onward, the octopus had only continued to stay in the area long enough to verify a final set of details before making his way back to within the city limits of Poseidonis.

Immediately after Topo had broadcast the news to Aquaman, the king's faithful advisor, Nuidis Vulko, who had been present in the throne room alongside him and Mera, had deduced that the gem was being used as a means to channel a strength boosting spell. Unfortunately, as helpful as this information was, it had also revealed even further difficulties for Aquaman's forces to deal with in order to defeat Trident.

Vulko nodded in agreement with his king, and then looked to Mera. "Of the three of us, you are the most knowledgeable when it comes to Atlantean magic. We all know that Trident has no natural magical power of his own. Yet he is channeling a magical item to further his goals right now as we speak. How might that be possible?"

The queen of Atlantis thought to herself, going through everything she remembered from her days of learning Atlantean magic at the academy. "It is true that a single talisman like the one Trident currently appears to have in his possession is capable of being used to channel appropriate spells in the hands of a magic user. However, such a talisman can also be used in such fashion in the hands of one without magic if it is bound through sympathetic magic to another talisman or similar item that already has natural magic stored inside prior to use."

Her husband raised his eyebrow. "Sympathetic magic?"

"It is a form of magic in which the essence of a target is bound to the essence of something else."

The king made a silent 'oh', thought to himself, and then nodded. "I see." He looked back to Mera. "Continue."

"That being the case, in light of how Trident himself, the naga he rides, and the multiple Trench warriors he has fighting for him are the only hostile beings present within the area around Poseidonis, and none of them have the kind of magical power needed for such a spell naturally available within them, it is most likely that your suspicions about them receiving outside aid from an unknown 3rd party are indeed correct Arthur."

Her husband nodded somberly, as did Vulko. "And most likely, whoever this 3rd party providing aid is has holed up somewhere outside the immediate area where the battle is occurring and so is the artifact that Trident's spell channeling talisman is tied to. And with that being the case, and Trident and his immediately present forces keeping us from leaving the immediate area around Poseidonis . . ."

"Then our only viable option right now would be to somehow steal the talisman from Trident and either use it for ourselves, or destroy it." The king sighed. "But of course, that leaves us with the problem of actually getting ahold of the talisman in the first place."

"Which, naturally, leaves us still at square one," said Vulko. "And that's before we consider a certain other matter. This detail may seem minor, but considering how the rune symbol used for spells that involve defense against magical attacks is styled in the form of sea turtle's shell, I strongly suspect that those sea turtle shell images Topo said were tattooed on the chests of the trench warriors in Trident's army could yet prove just as big of a thorn in our side in the near future as that strength boosting talisman."

Aquaman face-palmed, sighing in exhaustion. Vulko had brought up another valid point, and one that, if correct, would indeed make things even more difficult for him and his forces. And the fact that he himself hadn't even noticed that detail without Topo's help did not make him feel any better.

Mera placed her hand on her husband's shoulder. "Do not despair Arthur, hope is not lost. There may yet be another way."

"If there is, we haven't found it yet." Aquaman shook his head side to side. "And to top it off Garth still hasn't made it back. At this rate, I fear that, even if there is another way available for us without having to pay some sort of high cost, we may yet be running out of time to even find it, let alone use it. And if that is indeed the case, and we don't use some method or other of high cost, we could yet be defeated within the next few days."

"No."

Vulko shook his head, slamming the blunt end of his sharp war scepter on the throne room floor. "We cannot give up now. Especially not you." He pointed his finger at Aquaman. "I didn't spend multiple years of my life teaching and training you in the ways of Atlantis when you were a child just for you to give up now. And I most definitely did not allow myself to be slandered with trumped up accusations of treason just to still be alive as your advisor at a point where you'd willingly allow Orm to look as if he'd have been a stronger and more capable ruler then yourself."

"Vulko is right my love."

Mera nodded her head. "We may win. We may be defeated. But regardless of what happens in the end, we cannot afford to give up hope now, while there may yet still be equal chance of either fate to befall us."

Aquaman looked to his wife, then his advisor, then his wife again, and then nodded as he realized that they both had a valid point. "You are right," he admitted. "Both of you are." He turned his head to face Vulko, an exhausted smile on his face. "What you have now said? Stuff like that allows me to remain thankful that you were indeed still trustworthy enough for me to accept your counsel after my brother's downfall."

The old and grizzled Atlantean advisor let a tired smile of his own come on his face. In the earliest years of Orrin's rule, Vulko had initially served directly as the then newly crowned king's advisor the same way he was now doing this very day until he'd ended up managing to eavesdrop on Orm and several guards on his side plotting to have him killed as the first step in a long and carefully planned scheme to eventually overthrow Orrin.

Vulko, having known full well that he'd have had no chance of surviving what they'd planned for him if he allowed even the slightest chance of him getting caught in it, and not wishing to risk triggering the final step of the plot to early, had chosen to quietly flee from Poseidonis and go into hiding while trusting his former pupil to be able to eventually foil his treacherous brother's plot himself. Orm, naturally, had chosen to turn what would have otherwise been a serious setback back in his favor by using Vulko's unannounced absence as a means to paint him as a traitor. But thankfully, after Orm had finally initiated the final stages of his coup and ultimately been defeated, Orrin had recalled the search parties Orm had arranged to go looking for Vulko and relayed the message of pardoning to his old teacher through telepathic communications with various sea creatures. And since his return, Vulko had only continued to prove exactly as reliable as he'd been since before his temporary departure.

Mera smiled as she too remembered Vulko's temporary departure. Much like her husband, she was all too happy that the ever so reliable old advisor had truly not been the traitor that Orm had tried to paint him as and ultimately been able to return home after the entire mess with Orm and the doomsday reactor had been dealt with.

Aquaman nodded his head one more time, and then cleared his throat. "All that in mind," he began as he began to rise from his throne, "we shall continue fighting as we are for now. With luck, either Garth will return alive in time to help, and possibly even bring aid with him, or we will find a way to adequately defeat Trident and his forces without Garth, and preferably one without having to pay an uncomfortably high cost." He paused, took a deep breath, and exhaled. "Nevertheless, I now believe it is best that I tell you of an idea I have at the ready that would truly come at a high cost, but will only use if there is truly no other option left."

Mera and Vulko looked each other in the eyes, and then back at Arthur. "A last resort you say?" Vulko asked. "What exactly do you have in mind for such a situation?"

Aquaman took another deep breath. "Before I went to sleep the final night before this conflict began, I was able to successfully call in a last ditch form of backup. An entire small pod of Joppa whales are on standby within a cave several miles to the west of Poseidonis awaiting my call right now as we speak."

At the sound of this information, Mera's eyes widened, and Vulko seemed to turn white. "Joppa whales?" Vulko asked. "Surely you cannot be serious?"

"I'm afraid I am."

Mera and Vulko looked each other in the eyes. Even by the standards of most sea monsters, Joppa whales were not to be taken lightly. Just a single Joppa whale alone had both the power and the ferocity to send at least five battleships to the bottom of the ocean at once without any survivors. The only individual known to have directly battled one and come out as the victor was the legendary surface dwelling hero known as Perseus, and even he had only managed to do so with help from a magical pair of sandals given to him by the god Hermes and the decapitated head of the gorgon Medusa herself. The same ferocity that these beasts were renowned for also made it very rare for more than one to be together in the same area outside of mating season. Even with the telepathy and apparent affinity for sea creatures that Aquaman had, it would almost certainly take Herculean level of luck to keep even one under control, and he'd now claimed to have secured aid from an entire small pod.

Mera looked back at her husband. "You said you have secured the aid from a small pod. How small exactly is this pod?"

"There are exactly 10 Joppa whales awaiting my signal."

"10?" Vulko gulped, and then shook his head as if to get his thoughts back together. "This is already sounding even worse than I thought." He looked back at his king. "True, a pod that size would definitely be more than enough to devastate Trident's forces and send any that miraculously manage to survive fleeing. But the sheer savagery of the resulting attack they'd unleash would be enough to potentially put the entire city of Poseidonis in ruins." He frowned as he thought of another unpleasant detail. "And I have a bad feeling that not even that would be enough to discourage Trident from coming right back immediately after the Joppa whales have finished their attack and departed back from whence they came."

"Indeed." The king nodded. "But I already have something planned with that in mind." He opened his eyes. "In the event that I call upon the Joppa whales, I plan to have the entirety of the city evacuated and placed into safe hiding within the very same cave that the whales are currently using as their temporary dwelling. And once everyone is safe in there and the cave is sufficiently hidden via glamour to keep Trident and his forces from finding them, I plan to make my way posthaste straight to the nearest altar of Atlan. And upon arrival, I plan to call upon my final trump card that will almost certainly put a stop to Trident's terror upon Atlantis for good."

This new information, surprisingly enough, was enough to leave Mera and Vulko even more stunned. "You're saying that . . ." Mera began.

"Yes," her husband confirmed. "In the event that things truly get bad enough for me to have to invoke this last resort, I intend to call upon the Karathen."

It took all of Vulko's willpower not to scream. "You do realize what you are saying, right? Yes, I know that this could yet qualify as a situation where we may yet truly need her aid if it worsens sufficiently enough. And yes, it is quite guaranteed that she'd win against Trident and whatever forces he might be able to scrounge up following the Joppa whale attack you have planned for him to undergo prior to summoning her. But the simple fact is, even a victory through her would cause untold damage. Even the furthest of the other six Atlantean city states would feel the shockwaves, regardless of whether the battle is able to stay contained within the area that the Karathen would appear in upon being summoned. And who knows how much drama we'd have to deal with to get things back in order once the whole mess is finished and the Karathen has returned to her home afterword."

"Indeed." Aquaman nodded his head, sighed, and then directed his gaze straight into the eyes of his queen and advisor. "Which is precisely why, even now, I once again hope more than anything that I won't reach the point that enacting this last resort plan will truly prove necessary."

At this point, Mera and Vulko looked at each other one more time, then back at Aquaman, and then nodded reluctantly. As one, the three high ranking Atlantean figures turned their head to face the doorway to the throne room, the sound of conflict ringing from outside and clearly heard by them even from within their current location. At this point, it sunk in just how much was now at stake. Even now, they all had no choice but to hope that things could yet turn around in their favor before it reached the point that they'd truly have no other choice then to enact the truly last ditch doomsday-level plan that Aquaman had currently decided necessary to keep on standby.

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I really hope you enjoyed this new chapter and that you leave plenty of feedback (remember, an exact minimum of one review is required for this new chapter before I can allow for the next completed chapter to be posted). I also hope you think I did a good job so far in incorporating Vulko and Topo. Admittedly, Vulko never appeared in the CN DCAU as far as I am aware (single appearance in the comics based off JLU notwithstanding), but I just** ** _had_** **to include him after seeing him in the Aquaman movie and finding out just how huge of a role he plays on the Atlantis/Aquaman side of DC comics. Hope I came up with a sufficient/appropriate spin to cover his not being around to stop the events of the DCTTAU version of the JL episode of the same name as this story. Furthermore, I also hope that you are happy to know that Topo is at least in existence in the DCTTAU (as far as my fanfiction and I are concerned at least) and will be willing to see him make a physical appearance I plan for him to make later in this story. And speaking of Topo, quick bit of trivia for those who were introduced to him via the YJ cartoon. In the comics, he's not a humanoid with an octopus for a head. In the comics, he's a 100% octopus. Granted, his incarnation from the New 52 was more like a kraken-like beast. But before the New 52, he was an ordinary octopus who served as a loyal ally to Aquaman (and he may very well have reverted back to his old ordinary octopus incarnation as of Rebirth). In fact, remember that drum playing octopus in the Aquaman movie? That octopus was, at the very least, a nod to Topo (if not actually Topo himself!). All that in mind, yeah, it looks right now like Atlantis is in a real fix. Trident appears to mysteriously have magical aid on his side despite not being capable of naturally wielding magic himself, and is using that aid to boost the power of his Trench army (and could yet end up allowing them to have boosted resilience to magical attacks). It's even now reaching the point that, if things get bad enough for Atlantis, Aquaman could yet be at risk of calling upon the effective (but also rather destructive) aid from both a pod of the same species of sea monster that (in this universe anyway) nearly ate Andromeda before being killed by Perseus AND from the Karathen! Can the Titans make it to Atlantis in time to help and stop such a last ditch scenario from unfolding? And for that matter, one might also notice how there is absolutely ZERO mention of a certain messenger squad. Did something bad happen to said squad? Or was there never such a squad even sent in the first place? Sounds suspicious, does it not? All that said, once again, I hope you all enjoyed, and that you leave plenty of feedback!**

 **Coming up Next: We return to the Titans in time for Aqualad to do some late night investigating to figure out just what (if anything) their supposed current allies might be hiding from them. What will he find over the course of his investigation? Find out next time!**

 **P.S: Bearhow, I apologize in advance for not including any scenes with Tula in this chapter. I genuinely considered doing so after how much you expressed a desire for more scenes of her after what you saw of her in the last chapter to focus on Aquaman. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I found myself unable to find a way to fit her in this chapter that felt organic as opposed to just shoehorning her in. Hopefully, the scenes where she appears later in this story that I already had planned will be enough to satisfy your desire to see more Tula.**


	11. Aqualad's Late Night Walk

**Hey everyone! Time for a new chapter! In this chapter, Aqualad does some late night investigating of the 'Atlantean military outpost' to see if he can figure out some answers behind the various questions that have arisen over the course of the titans' stay. What will he find? Let's get to the chapter and find out! Here's hoping you read, enjoy, and review!**

 **A/N: But first, let me remind you that I do not own Teen Titans or anything else explicitly contained within official DC canon. Get that? Got that? Good. Onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 10:**

 **Aqualad's Late Night Walk**

That evening, in the cavern where the Atlantean outpost was located, Aqualad was standing outside the entrance to the spare barracks that currently served as the sleeping quarters for the seven Titans, Robin and Terra standing before him.

The boy wonder nodded, and gazed straight into his Atlantean friend's dark black eyes. "You sure you've got this?"

Aqualad nodded his head. "Poseidon's honor."

"Alright then." Robin nodded his own head. "Good luck."

"Are you sure you want to be doing this alone?" Terra asked. "What if you need backup?"

"Don't worry Tara. I should be alright. And besides, like I said earlier, it might be less suspicious if Omoros and the others only see me out and about. I've already taken several late night walks through these caverns over the last few nights to help get myself relaxed, and that's certainly not a secret to everyone else around here. As long as I don't get caught in anything particularly incriminating regarding my investigation, it should be easy enough for me to pass this off as just another one of those walks. If I'm seen with company, even if it's you, they may yet get suspicious about the sudden break from routine."

Terra hung her head. "Well, I suppose that's true. That doesn't mean I have to like the idea of you going out like this on your own."

"I know Terra, but trust me, I can take care of myself in a fight. And besides." He drew out his communicator. "If it makes you feel better, I always have this on me. And if I truly find myself needing help, I'll just call you."

Terra looked at her boyfriend's communicator, drew out her own, and then let a small smile come on her face. "Well I suppose there's that." She looked back at Aqualad, a serious look back on her face. "But you'd better not make me regret not coming with you to help."

"I'll do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen," the young Atlantean promised.

"And that's all fine and dandy," said Robin. He smacked his right fist down on his left palm. As much as he was happy to see how much his old friend and the former traitor of the team truly cared for each other as much as they did, he didn't want Aqualad to get his focus knocked too far off course from his planned investigation that night. "Now just remember," he said to Garth. "If you find anything suspicious at all, even if it's seemingly not all that important, make sure to note it down. And in the event you feel it necessary to report anything to us directly, find a safe place to talk on the communicator first."

"Understood."

"Awesome." He placed his hands on Aqualad's shoulders in a gesture of companionship. "Good luck."

Aqualad nodded in acceptance, and the Boy Wonder turned around and walked back into the barracks. For about a minute, Aqualad and Terra remained standing where they were, staring each other in the eyes. Eventually, Aqualad decided this somewhat awkward moment had gone on long enough. "Well," he then said, "I suppose I'd best be off. . ."

Terra suddenly stepped forward and gave her Atlantean boyfriend a big hug. Aqualad, after a couple seconds of stunned pause, managed to return his half Markovian girlfriend's embrace. "Please, come back safely Garth."

Aqualad gulped, half nervous and half touched, and he gave Terra a reassuring pat on the head. "Don't worry Tara. I will. I promise."

"Good," Terra replied. She pulled away from him, looking him straight in the eyes. "You'd better."

Then, after a few seconds paused, she gave Aqualad a chaste kiss on the lips, which Garth returned. "I love you," said Terra after they'd broken the kiss.

"I love you to Tara," Aqualad responded. He nodded his head. "I'll be back."

Terra nodded, sniffled slightly, and then turned around and walked into the barracks to go to sleep.

Aqualad remained standing where he was for a few seconds, staring lovingly in the direction Terra had gone. Then he got his thoughts back in gear, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Time to get to work," he whispered under his breath. His mind in gear, he turned around and began to make his way further into the makeshift city within the outpost.

. . . . .

An hour later, Aqualad had explored almost every inch of the outpost. Yet he had still so far found nothing worth noting down, let alone reporting. Even the armory had turned out to be a dead end. Evidently, the soldiers who had reportedly been working on designs for tech based off of Cyborg's mechanical side had been smart enough to remove all evidence of their work from the armory. Wherever any such evidence was now, it would likely take both time and serious effort to find it, and Aqualad already had a feeling that he had very little of the former.

Aqualad cursed under his breath. "There's got to be something around here that could help answer our questions. But where?"

At the sound of footsteps coming from his right, Aqualad tensed up, immediately on alert. Then he heard a voice coming from that same direction.

"We've already been through this twice now, just let it go already."

Acting quickly, yet still making sure to stay quiet, Aqualad slipped into a nearby dark side alley. Upon entry, he placed his back up against the nearest wall, surreptitiously turning his head to peek outside his hiding place. As he watched, the footsteps grew louder, and the voice he'd heard not too long ago once again came to his ears.

"What part of 'let it go' did you not get? We are to do as Omoros told us, end of discussion."

"But why?" asked another voice. "Why go through all this rigmarole? Neptune knows all we're achieving in doing so is to prolong the inevitable and that we'd all be better off just getting it over with now, especially while our guests still don't the truth about us."

"And I'm telling you _again_ ," said the first voice, now clearly annoyed. "We have our orders."

"But our orders make no sense," the second voice snapped, clearly also annoyed. "Every second they stay alive in our midst is another second of time in which they could yet figure out our secrets and ruin everything for both us _and_ the one the star is currently allied with. We need to deal with them _now_ , while they're still in the dark. Or better yet, we should have dealt with them the instant our scouts made us aware that they were even in our reach in the first place! Why continue to do the exact opposite of that when it would be smarter to just kill them?!"

"You know damn well why we can't kill them Carchareus! You heard what Omoros said! The star specifically wants them alive! He believes they'll be far more useful to us that way then if we kill them."

"But the one the star is now allied with; that's not what he wants. . ."

"Forget about what he wants. As far as he needs to know, once the star has finished what he plans to do to those younglings, they will technically be dead, from a certain point of view. And what that self-righteous Tritonian fool doesn't know won't hurt him. Besides, once he and the star have both achieved their respective goals, the Tritonian will be too busy and content sitting on his stolen throne as an oblivious puppet of the star to even notice any sort of deviation from his original wishes for those whelps."

Aqualad's eyes narrowed upon hearing all this. "So I was right," he thought to himself. "Omoros and his men _can't_ be trusted. And what's worse, that Tritonian they're talking about being allied with is almost certainly Trident." He then thought to himself. "But why do I feel that that's not the only secret they're hiding? And what in Neptune's name is this star they keep mentioning?"

The footsteps stopped, and he noticed the two figures he'd heard speaking, which he could now confirm on sight to be two of the soldiers amongst the inhabitants of the outpost, come to a stop directly outside the entrance to his hiding place. He held his breath, heart in his mouth, praying like mad that they didn't notice him there.

"Well I guess that's true," said the one who apparently wished for him and his friends to be killed, a younger looking man with reddish brown hair dressed in similarly reddish colored armor. "But I still don't feel comfortable with letting these enemies of ours stay alive in any capacity; especially after the Tritonian made it clear he wanted us to kill them in the event that they showed up on our doorstep alive."

"It's not about what we feel comfortable with," said the other soldier, an older looking man dressed in murky green armor who strangely seemed to have jade green streaks in his silvery gray hair. "What matters right now is that we follow orders, and Omoros made it crystal clear that we are to let them live. And lest you forget, the same orders he gives to us are orders he himself has received straight from the star. You want to argue with _him_? Be my guest!"

The younger soldier sighed. "Ok, ok, point taken. Sheesh."

The older soldier made a curt grunt, and then looked up towards the cavern ceiling. "Come," he said. "We've wasted enough time right now. Omoros gave the call for us to meet him in the lower caverns a quarter of an hour ago; and I highly doubt that the star will appreciate being kept waiting. Let's go."

"Yes sir," said the younger soldier.

The two soldiers departed from their position near Aqualad's hiding spot, continuing onward to wherever it was they were heading. The young Atlantean titan remained in his hiding spot for a couple more minutes just to be safe, but still made sure that he could still hear their footsteps before coming out of hiding.

"Hmm," he thought to himself under his breath. "How should I proceed?" From what he'd gathered from his eavesdropping, he certainly had some important information that his fellow Titans would greatly appreciate. Namely, Omoros and his men indeed could not be trusted and the fact that they appeared to be in a direct alliance with Trident. "Which would certainly explain the troubling elements regarding the messenger squadron," he whispered under his breath. "There never was one." He nodded his head. Yes, the information he currently had was definitely worth the investigation.

Then he looked in the direction he'd heard the two soldiers depart from. Even with the information he'd currently gathered, he still had a feeling that he could yet gain more. After all, there were definitely still questions to be answered. For one, what were these 'lower caverns' that the soldiers had mentioned? What was going on in those caverns? Just who or what was this 'star' that the two soldiers had kept mentioning? And for that matter, just _what_ did this 'star' have in mind for the Titans?

He shuddered at the thought of this last question. From what he'd overheard in his eavesdropping, Trident wanted him and the other Titans dead, but the 'star' secretly had other plans. And furthermore, while he had reason to believe that these alternate plans would let the Titans stay alive, he also had reason to believe that these same alternate plans, whatever they were, would hardly be any more appealing than being outright killed off. "And who knows?" he then thought to himself. "Considering how there's obviously no messenger squad, those alternate plans that this 'star' has in mind for us could yet end up being carried out tomorrow. And if not tomorrow, then definitely within the near future. Regardless, tonight may yet be my only chance to figure it all out without cutting things too close."

In that instant, he made up his mind. He swiftly drew out his communicator, made note of the information he'd gathered so far, saved the notes, and then put his communicator back in his outfit's pocket before he then started making his way down the path that the two soldiers he'd eavesdropped upon had taken. Now was as good as time ever to get absolutely as much useful information as possible. And if that meant running even further risk of getting caught then he'd already taken, then so be it.

. . . . .

The two soldiers had thankfully not gotten too far for Aqualad to lose track of their trail, and the young Atlantean teen titan was able to surreptitiously follow them as they continued their trek to the 'lower caverns'. Over the course of this trek, Aqualad found himself crouching behind the wall of a small balcony overlooking a temple-like courtyard at the very back of the outpost that Omoros had claimed to be where he and his men took part in their religious activities. As he watched from behind this balcony, the two soldiers he'd eavesdropped upon and followed walked straight up to the center of the cavern wall. When the two soldiers came to a stop, Aqualad focused his gaze further upon the specific wall section, and his eyes narrowed when he noticed what looked like six hexagonal gemstones affixed upon that wall in a position that made it seem like they formed the shape of a star.

As Aqualad continued to watch, the older soldier raised his right hand and pressed upon each of the six gems, one by one, in a very deliberate and specific order. No sooner had the soldier removed his finger from the sixth gem he pressed when all six gems glowed in perfect synch. Seconds later, a massive circular blue glowing outline appeared around the wall segment where the gems were positioned, and the wall segment proceeded to roll slowly to the left like a boulder, revealing the entrance to a dark tunnel.

The two soldiers wasted no time, and proceeded to walk straight into the tunnel the instant the door had come to a stop. For a brief moment, they seemed to flicker like holograms. But then both soldiers disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel, preventing Aqualad from properly observing this detail further. For about a minute, Aqualad remained crouched behind the balcony wall, watching the tunnel entrance. Then, with a heavy groaning, the door rolled back into its closed position, the gems briefly letting off a flash of light to indicate that the door was once again locked.

At that point, Aqualad made up his mind. "I've already made it this far," he thought to himself. "Might as well go inside the 'lower caverns' and continue exploring from there now that I've clearly found them." He stayed crouched behind the balcony wall for about four minutes just to be safe. Then he quietly jumped down to the 'temple courtyard' and tiptoed over to the hidden door. He only paused long enough to quickly check to see that he was alone in the area before pressing the six gems in the exact same order that he'd witnessed the older soldier press them. The door opened, and Aqualad entered. By the time the door had once again closed, Aqualad was already long past the point where he'd last seen the two soldiers he'd followed.

The tunnel came to an end, and Aqualad quietly slid to a stop in the resulting chamber he entered. He looked around, there were now 5 other tunnels he could potentially explore, all positioned alongside the one he'd just left in the style of a 6-point star. He observed the area, wondering which path to choose. "I could easily get lost," he thought to himself. Then he noticed something else out of the corner of his eye, and he looked up towards the top of the tunnel entrances. "Or maybe not," he amended. Engraved at the top of each tunnel entrance was a symbol, with each tunnel having its own distinctive symbol.

He looked over at the symbol above the tunnel behind him, and he nodded his head upon recognizing it. "That is King Orrin's belt buckle. I'll definitely remember that." He looked at the other tunnels, and found his attention drawn to the tunnel straight ahead of the tunnel he'd just left. The symbol above that tunnel's entrance was a drawing of what looked like a star with a single angry looking eye in the center of its 'body'.

"Maybe I'll find something involving that 'star' the soldiers were talking about somewhere down this tunnel."

He entered the star tunnel.

. . . . .

At the sight of the ornate circular hatchway door, Aqualad was sure he was on the right track. "From what I've seen so far," he thought to himself, "all the _really_ important stuff have doors positioned at the entrances to their locations."

He noticed a familiar cluster of gems embedded upon the center of the door, and he smiled. "Should be easy enough to enter." He tapped the gems in the exact same order he'd pressed the similar gems on the entrance to the lower caverns. Sure enough, the door opened, and Aqualad entered the room on the other side.

As he observed the room, the young Atlantean couldn't help but feel like it heavily resembled a mad scientist's lab. Two particularly unnerving details he took note of were a series of restraint tables and what looked like a large ray gun dangling from the ceiling. But then he found himself even more unnerved when he saw multiple sigils and runes located on every single one of the machines. "The only reason things like that would be at all present on technology like this would be if the technology in question utilized some form of techno-sorcery."

Then he noticed a series of glass vials lined in a row on a shelf nearby the ray-gun like device. All of them contained a mysterious green liquid. "Could those be some kind of potion?" Then he noticed what looked like a collection of syringes. "I guess it shouldn't be surprising that injections would be involved in a place like this."

He looked around the area some more. "What else could I make note of in here?" Then he noticed something intriguing on the floor of the room, and he looked straight down at the floor. After examining the drawing he saw there, his eyes widened when he eventually recognized it as something he'd seen before; right within the tunnel leading from the T-sub's current location to the outpost.

"The abyssal star; of course! How did I not make that connection earlier?"

He gave the room one final look around, his eyes narrowed in concentration. Things were already starting to seem increasingly clear to him. Granted, he couldn't say that he knew the full picture. But he was definitely confident that he was at least getting a good idea of the basic gist. The abyssal star, or at least a being who claimed to be such, appeared to be serving as superior officer to Omoros and his men, and was currently serving as an ally for Trident.

His eyes widened as he realized something else. He looked around the laboratory, now feeling considerably more unnerved this time then before. "That stuff the soldiers said about what the star had planned for me and the other Titans . . . I'll bet for anything that those plans involve us undergoing some sort of experiment in this lab." He finished looking around, and then took a couple deep breaths to calm himself down. "I need to get out of here," he thought to himself. "And once I've reached a safe place after my exit, the other Titans need to know about this as soon as possible."

The sound was broken by the sound of low bestial snoring. Aqualad froze, heart leaping up into his mouth. The sound had come from somewhere to his left. He turned his head, his eyes narrowing as he finally noticed an area that was covered in shadows nearby the location of the ray gun-like device. Sure enough, the snoring was coming from within the darkness of that area. He thought to himself. Just how long had he been in this lab before he'd finally heard the snoring of whatever creature or monster was apparently sleeping inside that very room? "Has that thing been here this whole time?" Then he thought to himself some more, and he realized that he could worry about stuff like that later. "Now I _really_ need to get out of here."

He hurriedly, but quietly, began to make his way towards the door he'd used to enter the hidden laboratory. Despite his nerves, he managed to reach the door without waking up the laboratory's unseen occupant. But right as he was about to open it, he paused. He could now hear what sounded like footsteps and incoherent animalistic hisses and growls coming from directly on the other side of the door. He mentally cursed. He was trapped. If he tried to exit the laboratory now, he would almost certainly be seen by whatever was currently outside the door. Yet if he stayed in the lab and tried to wait for a safer time to leave, he would run even further risk of the sleeping monster sharing the room with him waking up while he was still in the lab.

Aqualad thought to himself, gritting his teeth as he weighed his options. Understandably, neither of them were all that good. He then sighed. "I'd best take the lesser of two evils." He took a deep breath to keep himself calm. If he was going to take the risk of the unseen monster waking up with him still inside the lab by waiting for whatever was currently outside to leave, he certainly wasn't going to further increase that risk by panicking and losing his calm.

He remained positioned at the door, listening to the noises coming from the other side, waiting as patiently as he could for some sign of departure from whatever was currently outside. His eyes narrowed in concentration. From what he could gather from the noises outside, he felt confident that there were at least two beings outside the lab, most likely guards of some sort. He also paid similarly close attention to the snoring of the unseen monster inside the lab. With each snore he heard, the young Atlantean felt slightly more nervous than before. "Come on," he thought to himself towards the alleged guards outside the door. "Hurry up and leave."

He mentally cursed when the apparent guards outside proceeded not only to stay exactly where it was, but also to seemingly get even louder. Aqualad gritted his teeth. "By Neptune," he mentally grumbled. "This is taking forever. Could this possibly get any worse?"

All things considered, Aqualad really should have known better then to ask such a question. In fact, seconds later, he found out the hard way just how things could in fact get worse. For at the sound of the snoring inside the darkened area of the lab starting to come to a stop and be replaced by slight groggy growling, Aqualad's heart leaped into his mouth, and his eyes widened with horror. He mentally cursed. The monster who had been sharing the laboratory space with him in the shadows had clearly heard the chatter outside in its sleep, and was now about to wake up. For a few seconds, Aqualad silently prayed that the monster would go back to sleep. Unfortunately, these prayers proved to be for nothing, and with a final groggy sounding snarl, the monster hidden in the shadows went silent. Then a pair of ominous blood red eyes materialized from within the darkness, gazing straight in Aqualad's direction.

Aqualad and the mysterious red-eyed being spent the new few seconds staring into each other's eyes, neither daring to move, neither daring to make a noise, neither daring to even breath. Then the red eyes narrowed, and Aqualad knew he was in trouble. With a piercing roar of rage, the hidden creature seemed to lunge forward. Aqualad managed to see what appeared to be a pair of scaly green webbed hands pop out of the shadows before jerking to a halt with a metallic clang. This metallic clang continued to go off as the creature continued trying to move out of the shadows, snarling and growling the entire time.

After a few seconds of rapid heartbeat and gasping, Aqualad managed to calm down sufficiently enough to realize how the mysterious creature in the shadows seemed to be actively impeded from reaching him, taking account of the clanging noise that he heard each time he saw the creature's hands suddenly come to a stop. "There must be something restraining it," he thought to himself.

Despite this, Aqualad knew better then to let out a sigh of relief. Even with the monster hidden in the shadows restrained and unable to reach him, the Atlantean teenage hero knew very well that he was still going to have a tough situation ahead of him. Sure enough, at the sound of inhuman grunting and running footsteps coming towards the door from outside the lab, Aqualad knew that the alleged guards had overheard the noise made by the now awakened monster inside the lab and were heading over to investigate.

He hurriedly moved as far to the left as he could, an idea already forming in his mind on how he could yet possibly escape from the whole mess. "I have to make sure I time this right," he thought to himself as he hurriedly got into his hastily decided upon position. "If I want to get out of this mess and avoid getting caught tonight, the last thing I can afford is a screw up."

The door opened, moving towards Aqualad as the young Atlantean had anticipated. In the time it took for the door to come to a stop, a pair of scaly humanoid figures armed with metallic rods rushed into the lab and headed towards the shadowy area that the snarling red-eyed monster was located. As Aqualad had planned, the way he and the door were positioned, combined with how focused the guards were on the hidden monster, allowed him to successfully avoid being seen by them when they entered. Of course, now that the guards had entered, he himself needed to get out of the lab before the door closed, the guards saw him, or both. Throwing caution to the wind, he bolted from his makeshift hiding place and rushed to the exit, miraculously making it out of the lab and into the tunnel seemingly without being seen by the guards.

He hurried through the tunnel back the way he'd come, panting and sweating as he rushed to get as far away from the lab as he could, not once looking back. "I need to get out of here," he thought to himself frantically. "I need to warn my friends." Then he briefly thought about the hidden red-eyed monster from within the laboratory, or at least what he'd seen of it. "Those eyes," he thought to himself. "And its hands to. Why is it I'm suddenly feeling that they look familiar to me for some reason?"

Then he heard the distant sound of running feet coming from behind him, and he cursed. "Darn it, I was so sure that they hadn't seen me." Then he thought carefully to himself. "Or maybe they heard me leaving. My footsteps certainly were loud enough now that I think about it."

He continued running, analyzing the current situation as best as he could. So far, the footsteps still sounded pretty far behind him, so he at least had a somewhat decent head start. He also took note of how, from what he could best interpret, there appeared to only be a single figure pursuing him. "He must have decided to go after me alone so his partner could deal with the laboratory monster." He took as many deep breathes as he could muster to keep himself calm while continuing his running. "If I'm lucky, I may still make it out of here without getting caught."

Naturally, things ended up unexpectedly becoming even more difficult for him not too long after he had this thought. He burst out into the chamber where the 6 tunnel entrances were clustered together. Unfortunately, at the exact moment he left the tunnel leading to the lab, a trio of beings very similar to the two guards who'd earlier been outside the laboratory door had been about to enter that very same tunnel, resulting in them and Aqualad engaging in a painful collision.

Aqualad and the three guards landed on their backsides, and they all shook their heads to clear their heads and regain their bearings. Then they looked at each other face to face. It was at this point that Aqualad got a good look at the three guards he'd just collided with. They were all scaly humanoid figures. One of them was blood red, the second was a bright golden yellow, and the third was a dark forest green. As far as physical appearance was concerned, they reminded him a lot of the flathead goblins he'd seen in the Edge Chronicles books that he'd seen Terra read during some of her moments of free time at Titans Tower East.

Naturally, there were just as many differences as there were similarities that he could see between said goblins and the trio of beings he'd now collided with. For one, the guards before him had webbed hands and feet. Their clawed fingernails were much longer and sharper, as were their teeth; a factor that left him feeling uncomfortably reminded of the Trench. And speaking of the Trench, he also took note of how each of the three guards had a very Trench-like cranial dorsal fin on the top of their head, as well as some similarly Trench-like spike dotted fins across their spines, and the backs of their arms. Finally, he also noticed that they had tails. The tails in question looked like a mix between those of a crocodile and those of a seahorse, and had powerful fish-like fins at the tips.

The three guards growled, and Aqualad realized that it was time to get into action. The young Atlantean hurriedly jumped to his feet, snapping into a battle-ready position. The three guards did the same, claws extended, and teeth bared. Aqualad also heard the footsteps from behind him getting louder. "Best be prepared for the guard behind me to end up joining in on this fight as well, maybe even his partner to," he thought to himself.

The red skinned guard snarled, its eyes narrowed menacingly, and charged towards Aqualad, its right hand drawn back and at the ready to swing at him. The teenage Atlantean hurriedly jumped back jut in time to avoid getting sliced up by the guard's claws. Then he jumped to his left to avoid a swing of the yellow skinned guard's left fist, only to shriek and get sent flying right towards the yellow skinned guard thanks to a swing of the green skinned guard's tail.

He flew right into the embrace of the yellow skinned guard, who wrapped his arms around the young Atlantean in a tight embrace from behind. Right as Aqualad was about to start struggling against the yellow guard's embrace, he heard hissing from in front of him and saw the green guard start to charge towards him with its fangs and claws at the ready. Thinking quickly, Aqualad jumped in a way that allowed him to deal a kick with both feet to the green guard's face, sending it flying backward. No sooner had he landed from this jump when he jumped again, this time doing a back flip over the yellow guard, allowing him to slip free from its grasp, grab it by the cranial fin, and proceed to lift it up and slam it on the ground on its back once he himself had landed back on his own feet. It took only took two seconds after this for him to react to the sound of hissing and running feet from behind him and turn around in time to deal the now charging red guard a swift punch to its face, sending it stumbling backward before it collapsed back onto its backside.

At the sound of a shrill roar coming towards him from the left, Aqualad turned around in time to see the green guard lunging at him with its claws at the ready. Acting purely on reflex, he grabbed the lunging guard by both wrists, swung it around in circles, and then threw it straight towards the entrance to the tunnel that led to the lab; just in time for it to crash into the guard who'd been chasing him, a black scaled figure, at the moment said guard had finally caught up and exited said tunnel. The two guards went sprawling.

The yellow guard got back to its feet, shaking its head side to side rapidly to regain its bearings. It snarled at Aqualad, crouched as if about to pounce, and then snapped its teeth at him. Aqualad dodged, making a point to ram his elbow down on the yellow guard's head afterward, knocking it unconscious against the cavern floor.

He heard hissing and the whoosh of wind coming from the direction of the green and black guards, and he turned around in time to grab onto the green guard's tail right as it was starting to swing its tail towards him a 2nd time. The guard had enough time to let out a surprised hiss before it found itself lifted off the ground and swung around in circles before it was then used as a makeshift bludgeon to smack the now charging red guard in the chin in a brutal uppercut swing. The red guard was sent rocketing upwards by the blow, its head pounding painfully against the ceiling before it collapsed onto the ground unconscious. At the same time this happened, Aqualad finally let go of the green guard's tail, sending it crashing headfirst against a wall next to a tunnel entrance with a clashing sword and trident symbol engraved above the entrance. The green guard sprawled onto the floor unconscious after this.

A piercing shriek from Aqualad's right caused him to turn around in time to see the black guard rushing towards him, ready to attack. Reacting quickly, Aqualad did a leg sweep maneuver, tripping up his earlier pursuer and sending it sprawling. He had just gotten back to his feet when he suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a pounce from a blue scaled figure that suddenly appeared from the tunnel leading to the lab.

Aqualad landed on his back, his newly arrived additional foe now upon him and snarling down towards his face. Aqualad shook his head briefly to regain his bearings, and then looked in the face of the blue guard, eyes narrowed in concentration. "This must be the black scaled one's partner," he thought to himself. "Probably should have taken the possibility of it joining in on this conflict into account earlier. Oh well, I can probably still get out of here despite this turn of events if I'm lucky."

The monster very briefly reared its head upward, mouth open to the fullest and baring all of its teeth in their full nightmarish glory. Aqualad swiftly moved his head to the right literally the second he saw his attacker do this. This action proved especially wise, as the monster snapped its head down, its jaws clamping across the rocky floor in the area Aqualad's head had been positioned at mere seconds prior.

The monster reared upward, its left hand reflexively moving up towards its mouth as it hissed in clear discomfort. In doing so, it unwittingly allowed Aqualad just enough room to wiggle his right leg free, and he swiftly slammed his right knee into the guard's stomach. The guard wheezed in shock and pain from the blow, and Aqualad took advantage of this moment of inaction from his attacker to reposition his right leg for another attack and then slam his right foot against its stomach in a powerful kick. The blue guard was sent flying off of Aqualad before it landed on its back and slid a couple inches through the lab tunnel entrance.

Aqualad heard hissing and running feet coming towards him from behind, and the Atlantean warrior jumped back on his feet while simultaneously doing a spinning kick in a complete 180. His foot slammed against the black guard's throat, and the would-be assailant went stumbling backwards, panting and gasping with its hands on its throat.

Another snarling hiss split the air from the direction of the blue guard, and Aqualad mentally cursed before turning around in time to see it lunging towards him again. But this time, the young Atlantean titan was ready, and he reflexively extended his arms towards the guard in time for his hands to slam against the monster's stomach. Using the remaining momentum of the guard to his advantage, Aqualad lifted his now quite surprised opponent in the air directly above his head and started spinning it around in circles. After about a minute, he sent the still spinning blue guard hurtling in the direction of its black scaled partner. Said partner had just now recovered from the blow it had received to its throat not too long ago, and it was sent flying backward after its own partner slammed into it at full force.

The two guards slammed against a wall next to a tunnel with a symbol of an ocean wave engraved above the entrance, and then slid to the cavern floor. Both of them were now unconscious. Aqualad took a brief few seconds pause to pant and gasp in a mixture of exhaustion and relief. "By Neptune I'm so lucky right now," he thought to himself. He steeled himself, taking a final couple deep breaths to make sure he was ready. "Regardless, I _really_ need to get out of here, before I end up having even more enemies to deal with. I'm already probably at huge risk of being found out right now as is." He turned away from the five unconscious guards to face the tunnel that would lead back to the exit from the lower caverns and ran towards it, eager to escape while he still somewhat had a chance to avoid getting caught.

Right as he'd taken three footsteps into the tunnel, Aqualad was suddenly struck in the back and engulfed by what looked, and felt, by a high voltage burst of electricity. Howling in pain, Aqualad jerked to a stop, unable to move and barely even able to think clearly. For just a brief few seconds, he managed to force his eyes open from their pain induced closing and attempted to turn his head to look behind him. But the effort, combined with the pain and the power of the attack causing it, ultimately proved too much for Aqualad. With a groan, Aqualad lost consciousness. The one who'd blasted him seemed to realize this, the electrical blast shutting off just as suddenly as it had begun, and the young Atlantean hero collapsed facedown on the cavern floor, completely out cold.

With Aqualad unconscious, a trio of creatures very similar to the five that the young Atlantean had just finished battling and knocking out stepped out of the shadows from within the tunnel marked with the wave engraving. One of them, a reddish brown scaled figure, looked much smaller and younger then the other two, and its eyes widened at the sight of the unconscious Aqualad. "What the?" he hissed in surprise. "That boy! That's Garth Vinseto! One of the seven 'guests' back at the outpost! How'd he get in here!?"

"He must have followed someone in," said one of the other two figures, a murky green scaled being with silver streaks across its cranial fin who looked considerably older than its two compatriots. It narrowed its eyes. "And I have a very unpleasant feeling about just who might have unwittingly led him down here."

The younger figure raised its eyebrow. "Oh really?" it growled. "And who might you be about to blame for that right now?"

"Enough," said the third figure, a bright golden yellow scaled figure, its voice indicating no room for argument. It shook its head side to side, sighing in resignation. "I will admit, I would have greatly preferred for it not to come to this. But I suppose there's nothing we can do to change what's happened." It opened its eyes. "By virtue of necessity, it appears we will have to deal with him now and adapt and alter the original plan for tomorrow as needed to account for this unexpected turn of events."

"Now that I can definitely agree on," said the younger of the three, a hungry look appearing on its face as it gave a sickening grin and licked its chops. "What shall we do with him?"

"Leave him to me."

At the sound of this new voice coming from behind them, the three figures turned their heads to look in that direction just in time to see what looked like a pair of solid glowing purple lights materialize in the darkness of the wave tunnel entrance. "For one, I am the one who just now knocked him out for you." The sound of footsteps filled the air as the figure speaking began to make his way out of the shadows. "Furthermore, as your compatriot has made clear, the original plan to be carried out tomorrow involving him and his allies will now have to undergo a few slight alterations after what has just happened tonight involving him.

One of the speaker's feet stepped into view from out of the tunnel. It was a light umber brown, had only slight webbing between the toe, and otherwise looked considerably more like a human's foot then those of the three figures the foot's owner was now speaking to. "And since my master has made clear his wishes for all seven of our 'guests' to undergo the exact same fate, not to mention that the technology could use some testing considering how long it's been since the last time it was used. . ."

The figure finally stepped completely into view. Unlike the three figures who'd entered the area before him and the five unconscious guards, he looked almost exactly like an ordinary human. The only aspects of him that made his true Atlantean nature obvious were the slight webbing between his fingers and toes, and the set of gills on both sides of his neck. With the exception of a pair of grayish black pants, he was completely unclothed, allowing his light umber colored skin and muscular build to be on full display. His hair, in stark contrast, was a very bright blonde. Grasped in his hands were a pair of strange weapons that appeared to be swords with blades made out of paralyzed water. Upon his chest was what looked like a tattoo of a giant purple star that glowed with an unnerving purple light. Both of his eyes glowed with the same unnerving solid purple light as the tattoo on his chest. He directed a brief look at the intruder he'd personally electrocuted into unconsciousness, his unnaturally solid purple glowing eyes indicating no sign of any emotion, and then looked back at the three figures he was speaking to. "We might as well make the most of this situation and allow him to get ahold of the first of his desired puzzle pieces."

 **Dun dun dun! Chapter over. Hope you enjoyed and that you leave plenty of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of one review for this chapter before I allow the next one to be posted). For that matter, do feel free to be as detailed as you want with any feedback you send. After all, there certainly is plenty of stuff that could be commented upon in this chapter. How will things unfold from here? Let's hope you stick around long enough to find out ^_^.**

 **Coming up Next: The very next day, the other Titans, understandably worried by Aqualad's unexpected failure to return from the previous night's investigation, set off to make their own investigation. How will things unfold for them? And with what has already happened to Aqualad, could they themselves end up wandering straight into a trap? Find out next time!**


	12. Where's Aqualad?

**Wow! A new chapter already?! Apparently yes! ^_^ In this new chapter, with the rest of the Titans understandably worried after Aqualad's failure to return the previous night, they all set off on an investigation of their own. But just how will it unfold? Here's to hoping you read, enjoy, and review!**

 **A/N: But first, just to cover my legal bases, I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else DC-based.**

 **Chapter 11:**

 **Where's Aqualad?**

Robin was wide awake the next morning, his masked eyes narrowed as he closely examined the immediate area outside the barracks segment that had been set aside for him and his fellow titans to use as their temporary living space within the outpost. "Where is he?" he thought to himself. By all means, Aqualad really should have returned from his investigation the previous night by now; and the fact that he still hadn't returned had most certainly not escaped his notice. Naturally, he was more than willing to believe that something had gone wrong the previous night over the course of his old friend's investigation.

"Still no sign of him?"

Robin sighed, shook his head side to side, and turned his head to look at Cyborg, who was now right behind him. "Still no sign of him," the Boy Wonder confirmed. He directed a brief glance towards the arm that contained Cyborg's tracking technology. "Any luck?"

Cyborg shook his head, activating his comm tracker and attempting to enact a search for Aqualad's communicator. Only static appeared. "Nope. I don't know what's going on, but whatever's currently wrong with my scanners and our communicators is still in effect."

As the Titans had ended up learning the hard way just that morning, it was now proving incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for them to use their communicators for any form of communication. And for some odd reason, the scanners and tracking technology Cyborg had built into him seemed to be similarly undergoing adverse effects on their reliability. The fact that they'd only just discovered this now made them feel very worried and suspicious. Not only were they now left to wonder just how long this problem had potentially been going on before this morning, but it also made their current efforts at finding the mysteriously absent Aqualad worrisomely difficult.

Robin groaned, facepalming in irritation. "This is insane."

"I hear you man," Cyborg agreed. "I'm not the only one having trouble tracking him either. Raven and BB haven't had anymore luck tracking him then I have."

"That's one way to put it."

The two boys turned their heads in time to see Raven walking up from where she'd initially been hovering in her meditation pose and trying to mentally pinpoint Aqualad's whereabouts, shaking her head side to side with her eyes closed. "I've searched the entirety of the outpost, and even the tunnel leading to it from where we left the T-sub, and I haven't been able to make any psychic contact with him."

At the sound of flapping wings, the three titans turned their heads in time to see a green vampire bat descending towards them. Beast Boy came all the way down to just a couple feet above the ground in this form before shifting back to human form and landing on his feet with bent knees in a crouching position. He straightened up to full height and looked to his friends. "Wassup dudes?"

"Not much luck on our end," said Cyborg. Raven shook her head side to side in agreement.

"What about you?" Robin asked.

Beast Boy shook his own head, spreading his arms out sideways helplessly, and then letting them slap fall back down and slap against the sides of his body. "Nope. Nothing. I sniffed every space I could in bloodhound mode, and searched everywhere else I could in peregrine falcon mode. No sign of him."

Robin groaned. "Where could he be?"

"I will admit, I truly am worried now that something terrible has befallen friend Aqualad."

The other titans turned their heads in time to see Starfire come to a stop right in between Cyborg and Raven. The Tamaranean shook her head side to side, concern clear on her face. "I can only hope that he is alright, and that friend Terra isn't being too badly affected by his current absence." Her fellow founding Titans grumbled in agreement and nodded their heads.

Then Beast Boy raised his eyebrow. "You know, now that you say that, how is she right now?"

Starfire raised her own eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Beast Boy raised his eyebrow again, now clearly confused himself. "Isn't she here with you?"

Robin raised his own eyebrow. "I thought she was with you?"

"She was, but we split up about halfway through my patrol. Said she felt like she needed to have a little talk with Star."

"Well she certainly ain't here now," said Cyborg. "And she certainly hasn't been seen around this area since she left with you."

Raven rolled her eyes. "It appears that having one missing teammate to worry about around her just wasn't enough," she droned sarcastically.

"Well where could she be now?" Cyborg asked.

"Please," said Starfire, her green eyes looking directly into Beast Boy's own. "Are you absolutely certain that she was heading back here?"

"Well," Beast Boy began, thinking to himself. "Ok, she didn't explicitly say that she was coming to talk to you. She just said that there was someone she felt like she really needed to have a nice long talk with. And judging by how she sounded especially worried about Aqualad and on the verge of tears from it, I guess I just assumed that she was referring to you. I mean, call me presumptuous, but you are sort of the type that she could rely on to have a nice long conversation with for the sake of comfort. . ."

The changeling's eyes suddenly widened. Then he grimaced, and facepalmed, snarling in clear irritation. "I am an idiot."

"What is it?" Cyborg asked.

"I think I just got an idea of who she might have _really_ been referring to when she said there was someone she needed to have a nice long talk with."

. . . . .

"You seriously haven't seen him anywhere?"

Omoros shook his head, his golden hair shining in the light of the glowing crystals providing light within the audience chamber where he was currently in the midst of his unexpected talk with Terra. "No sign of him. I'm sorry that I have to say so, but that is the truth."

Terra groaned, hanging her head in half despair and half exasperation.

"I understand that you are distressed over his absence," said Omoros, seemingly trying to comfort the geomancer. "It is my understanding that you and Garth are quite close."

"Oh that barely covers the half of it," Terra admitted, a small tear starting to streak down her right cheek. "I love him," she stated solemnly, just as much to herself as to Omoros.

"And he feels the same for you I'm sure." Omoros nodded his head. "He certainly indicated quite strongly for that to be the case." He stared straight at Terra. "But let us not completely lose hope. Wherever he is, he could yet be perfectly fine."

"I know but," Terra looked up to directly face Omoros once more. "Where could he be?"

"Well if it makes you feel any better," Omoros began. "I do know of at least a slight possibility for where he could be."

"Where?"

"Well, he did seem rather worried yesterday about how long it was taking for the messenger squad I sent to Poseidonis to return. And even though I promised yesterday that I'd go out with all my remaining men today to search for the messenger squad and get this mess sorted out, he still seemed rather stressed out when I saw him out on his usual late night walk last night. Maybe the stress got to him and he chose to jump the gun and try to check on them himself as a result."

Terra thought to herself. "Well . . . I don't know . . . that really doesn't sound like him. And I know he wouldn't do anything like that without at least telling me."

"I'll admit, it is a bit of a stretch," said Omoros. "But again, he was rather stressed out over the situation at Atlantis and the lack of news resulting from the continued absence of the messenger squad. Assuming he did in fact do what I'm now suggesting he may have done, then you can admit he probably may just not have been thinking straight as a result of all that stress."

Terra thought to herself some more, surreptitiously taking a look at the commander's facial expression and other details about his body language. "Well, I suppose that does sort of make sense . . . assuming of course that is in fact what he did."

"Indeed." Omoros nodded his head. "In fact, all that in mind, I can promise you this. As it so happens, all my men currently still here are now in the midst of getting ready to go out to search for the messenger squad today as I promised to Garth yesterday. I was actually about to head off to get myself prepared for that little trip when you arrived here to talk with me. I'm sure we all could keep our eyes open for him while we're on the way to Poseidonis."

Terra paused for a brief few seconds, and then nodded. "I suppose that would be a good start."

"Splendid." Omoros nodded his head. "If we find him, I'll make sure to bring him right back here safe and sound once we've finished our search for the messenger squad and sorted out whatever mess has unfolded in the time since they left here. I'll also make sure to let him know that you're worried, or at least confirm that to him if he's already suspected as much."

"If you say so." Terra pointed her finger directly at the commander of the outpost. "But I'm holding you to those promises you just made."

"Understood." Omoros directed his attention towards a nearby water clock. "Oh dear, I'd really better get going. I _really_ need to get ready for today's journey, and my men will likely need me around to make sure everything's all set for them and the journey as well in the near future. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm in a bit of a rush. . ."

"It's fine," said Terra. "You go ahead and get going. My friends are probably wondering where I am right now anyway."

"You go ahead and meet back up with them," Omoros suggested. "I'm sure they'll appreciate being made aware of where you've been this morning. And feel free to spread the news I just gave you to them as well."

"I will. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Have a nice day."

Terra departed, a small half happy and half saddened smile on her face as she left.

The instant the geomancer had completely departed from the audience chamber, Omoros narrowed his eyes, a glare swiftly replacing his earlier smile. He drew out a purple talisman from a pocket in his armor. The talisman glowed with a bright purple light, illuminating the star-shaped drawing emblazoned upon it.

"Good morning master," Omoros stated.

"You're late," a harsh voice telepathically grumbled in his mind. "I tried to call you myself a quarter of an hour ago, and you didn't answer. Why?"

"My apologies master. The geomancer came right into the exact same area as me right as I was about to try to contact you, and she was in the midst of talking with me when you tried to call. I didn't wish to risk her getting suspicious, and I couldn't figure out a good way to end the conversation and get her to leave quickly enough to still receive your call at the time. For that, I again apologize."

"I suppose that's acceptable enough. Regardless, I strongly recommend you not let something like this happen again. Got that?"

"Understood."

"Good. Are you and your men ready?"

"Soon, all our forces within the outpost are getting themselves ready as we speak, and I will start doing the same myself once I've finished this call. We should all be ready to join you and our brethren in the lower caverns within the very near future for what you've got planned for our guests."

"Excellent. I'll be waiting right in my chambers alongside my 2nd in command. And make sure neither you, nor any of your men, mess anything up. We've already very narrowly avoided getting ourselves found out and foiled last night. We can't afford any further mistakes now, not with how much is currently at stake."

"Of course. We will not fail you."

"You'd better not." There was a brief pause, the figure that Omoros was speaking to seeming to take a deep breath and exhale as if to keep himself calm. "One more thing. Once you've ended this call, make sure to go ahead and enact the first step in today's plan before you start getting yourself ready."

Omoros raised his eyebrow. "You mean the electronic communications hindering spell?"

"Yes. Have it dispelled. The sooner we can have the rest of our guests where we want them before they have a chance to figure things out on their own terms instead of ours, the better. And they're going to need to be able to at least use that tracking technology that the robot has built into him in order to get to where we want them. And for that matter, for the sake of all that is holy, make sure that the tablet with the instructions on how to enter the lower caverns has been returned to its post. We already know that the geomancer has a good enough grasp of Atlantean to be able to read it, and we need her and the other guests alongside her to be able to enter the lower caverns without triggering the lockdown or setting off any alarms. And considering how suspicious of us they might very well already be by now, the last thing we need is for us to make them even more so by being forced to help them access the lower caverns in an even more blatantly obvious way."

. . . . .

Terra had her head held high as she resolutely made her way back towards the barracks that were currently serving as the living and sleeping quarters for her and her fellow titans. Half of her still felt immensely worried about her boyfriend's whereabouts. The other half, however, felt confident in what now needed to be done. "I just need to return to my friends now and discuss the matter with them," she thought to herself. "I'm sure they'll agree once I've made my case."

The blonde geomancer had just reached the halfway point between the audience chamber and her current destination when she heard Beast Boy's voice in front of her say, "There you are."

She looked over to more closely face the area in front of her in time to see Beast Boy and the other founding titans come to a stop not too far away from her. At the sight of the half relieved and half annoyed looks on their faces, she let a sheepish grin come on her own face. "Oh, hey guys. How is everything?"

"A tiny bit better now that we know exactly where you are." Robin shook his head. "You're really lucky that something didn't end up happening to cause you to become mysteriously absent just like Aqualad. Considering how much difficulty we're currently having right now in finding him, it would be much more stressful for us if you'd gone missing to, or any of us really."

"I have to agree with Rob," said Cyborg. "I know you're worried about Aqualad right now Terra, but it was still awfully reckless of you to just up and go off to talk to Omoros without making absolutely certain that Beast Boy knew exactly what you were planning and leave the rest of us completely in the dark."

"And for that, I apologize."

Terra nodded her head, her eyes closed in acceptance of the matter. "But the important thing right now is that, reckless as I was in what I just finished doing, I'm alright and we're all good." She briefly looked behind her. "And while my talk with Omoros wasn't exactly helpful as far as figuring out Garth's current whereabouts are concerned, it wasn't a complete waste of time either."

The founding titans raised their eyebrows. "Care to enlighten us?" Robin asked.

"While we were talking," Terra began, "I made sure to observe how Omoros behaved and take note of his body language. Judging from the hints I picked up on from those observations, I now have a heck of a lot more reason to believe that Omoros and his men probably know exactly where Garth is, and were probably directly involved in some capacity in whatever it was that's happened to him."

"In other words, yet more reason to believe our current suspicions about them are in fact valid," said Beast Boy.

"Like we didn't have enough already," Raven droned.

"Well that's fine and dandy," said Robin. "But that still doesn't change the fact we still have no idea where Aqualad is, or how insanely difficult it's turning out to be for us to even try to track him down."

"I understand that perfectly," said Terra. "But at the very least, we definitely still need to keep searching, and we might as well start an investigation of our own on this place while we're at it. I mean, at this point we might as well. And besides, it probably wouldn't be completely unreasonable to assume that Garth may have found out something important over the course of his investigation efforts last night and perhaps got caught not too long afterward. And in the event that this is in fact the case. . ."

"Then we ourselves could end up finding out the hard way what's happened to him sooner or later," Cyborg finished.

"Hit the nail right on the head tinman," said Terra.

As one, she and the four 'underling' founders directed their gaze towards Robin. The boy wonder, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "All valid points," Robin agreed. He nodded his head. "And I won't lie, the idea of us all starting our own investigation today was on my mind." He lifted his head, ramming his right fist against his left palm. "Well, I suppose there's no time like the present."

"You can say that again," Raven agreed.

"What she said," said Beast Boy. He looked around the area, thinking to himself. "Um . . . where do we start?"

"I will admit, you've certainly got me there," Terra grumbled.

"No kidding," Cyborg groaned. He activated his tracking program and started making an attempt to enact a comm search, seemingly for no reason than to give a reminder on the unexpected wrench that had turned out to be present in their search efforts. "Man, this would really be a heck of a lot easier if it weren't for whatever's got my search tech and our communicators going all haywire on us . . ."

Cyborg raised his eyebrow, now clearly confused. "What the . . .?"

"What's happening?" Robin asked.

"Is something the wrong?" Starfire asked.

"I'm not sure," said Cyborg. He allowed the other titans to get a good look at his tracking tech screen, and their eyes widened at the sight of what had turned out to be present there instead of the static that had constantly been present over the last couple hours. "But as you can see, my tracking program is working now all of a sudden." And in fact, it was. He had randomly entered in the ID for Robin's communicator. And now, much to all the titans' surprise, the search had gone through.

"That's weird," Beast Boy agreed.

At the sound of a slight beep from her communicator, Terra drew out her communicator, opening it up to figure out what was going on. "Huh," she said. "Those texts I tried to send to Garth earlier this morning finally went through." She then seemed to wince in slight embarrassment. "Oh wow, I must have _really_ been worried out of my mind to try to send _this_ many within such a short amount of time, not to mention to not even notice how absolutely _none_ of them were going through at the time."

Raven's communicator suddenly went off in a way that indicated a call. She reflexively answered. "Raven. Who's there?"

"Right here Rae."

Raven removed her ear from her communicator, her eyes narrowed into a brief glare as she turned her head to face Beast Boy. The shapeshifter simultaneously ended his call and slipped his communicator back into his belt. "Well dudes. Looks like whatever was screwing around with our communicators and Cyborg's search technology has stopped."

Robin raised his eyebrow. "Awfully convenient timing." He thought to himself. "I suppose we'll just have to keep ourselves on guard."

"Should be easy enough," Raven stated in agreement.

"Regardless," Starfire added, "resuming our search for friend Aqualad and beginning our efforts at investigation should be the easier now, right?"

"One way to find out," said Cyborg. He deactivated the search he'd earlier made on Robin's communicator, and then proceeded yet again to attempt to enact a search for Aqualad's communicator. This time, after a brief few seconds of waiting, the technology started beeping to indicate that the tracker had gotten a lead on the Atlantean titan's communicator. "Yep, things are definitely about to get a tiny bit easier for us; a little too conveniently so, I'll admit; but it's better than nothing."

"Well in that case, what are we waiting for dudes?"

"Nothing," Robin responded. He looked up at Cyborg's face. "Lead the way Cy."

. . . . .

The titans came to a stop, gazing intently around the area they'd now found themselves in. In following the trail indicated by Cyborg's lead on Aqualad's communicator, they had reached the very back of the outpost, and were now in what looked like a courtyard similar to the ruins of an ancient Greek temple. They remembered seeing this area during the tour they'd received the night they'd first arrived, and how Omoros had specifically mentioned that this area was reserved for when the soldiers and other inhabitants took part in religious activities. And now, despite how it seemed for all intents and purposes to be a dead end, Cyborg's tracking program indicated they still hadn't yet reached the end of the trail.

"From what I'm seeing on my scanners right now," Cyborg explained, his gaze focused intently on the screen built into his arm, "either my scanners are starting to go haywire all over again." He pointed at the cavern wall directly in front of him and the other titans. "Or Aqualad's communicator is somehow located somewhere directly behind this wall."

Robin thought carefully to himself. "There must be some sort of secret passage."

"I certainly wouldn't put it past them," Terra agreed.

"I found something."

At the sound of Beast Boy's voice, the other titans looked in his direction in time to see him standing right by the center of the wall and gesturing towards six hexagonal gems affixed upon it. "Anyone willing to bet these little doodads are connected in some way to the entrance of a secret passage?"

"Certainly sounds logical to me," said Cyborg after a moment's thought.

Raven, eyes narrowed in concentration, walked over to the six gems. "Hmm," she thought to herself. She extended her right hand towards them, her eyes, plus the hand, glowing with her distinctive black aura. After about a minute, she withdrew her hand, the black aura leaving her eyes and hand. She turned her head to face the other titans behind her. "There is definitely some sort of magical signature emanating from these gems."

"Probably on the right track then," said Beast Boy. He looked back at the gems. "Though now that leaves us one question; just how _do_ we get in?"

"Perhaps we have to press upon the six gems in a specific order?" Starfire suggested.

Terra nodded her head in approval. "Sounds like the logical way to go to me."

"Well if that's the case," Cyborg broke in, pointing his finger at the cluster of gems. "What's the betting that we're not gonna want to find out what happens if we press them in the wrong order?"

"Sucker bet," Robin responded curtly.

The six teen heroes all started thinking to themselves, trying to figure out how to proceed. Then Terra happened to take a brief look to her left, and her eyes narrowed in curiosity at the sight of what looked like a clay tablet with a series of Atlantean glyphs engraved upon it. She got down on her knees and picked it up. She straightened back up to her feet, concentrating carefully as she examined the tablet.

Raven noticed. "Found something?"

The founding titans all looked at Terra, who took one final look at the words on the tablet. "Possibly," she responded. "Though I will admit, if I'm reading this correctly, its awfully cryptic in what it's saying."

The founders looked each other in the eyes. "Could give us a hint or two on how to get in," said Cyborg.

"You read my mind," Robin agreed.

Starfire raised her eyebrow.

"Not literally Star."

The Tamaranean made a silent 'oh' of understanding, and nodded her head.

The boy wonder looked over at Terra. "What does it say?"

Terra took another look at the tablet. "Let's see," she began. "While one foot stands submerged in the water, the opposite hand holds lightning in its clutches. While one hand grasps at the earth, the opposite foot kicks wildly against the wind. And the fire in one's eyes burn just barely brighter than the darkness in the heart."

Terra looked back at her fellow titans, all of whom now shared the exact same confused look that was on her own face.

"You were certainly correct about it being cryptic," said Beast Boy.

"Please," said Starfire. "What does all that mean?"

"Most likely, they have something to do with the order in which we need to press the gems," Robin explained. He looked back towards the gems, eyes narrowed. "But just what does all that stuff have to do with these gems?"

Starfire directed her own gaze towards the cluster of gems, her own eyes similarly narrowed in concentration. "Hmm," she thought. "Friends," she began, "am I the only who can see a star in the way they are positioned?"

Her fellow titans looked at the gems. One by one, they all nodded in agreement. "Now that you mention it, yeah," Cyborg admitted. "I do."

"I can definitely see what you mean Star," said Robin. His eyes widened as he suddenly got an idea. "And now that I think about it." He walked straight up to the cluster of gems, Raven and Beast Boy moving aside to allow their fearless leader room. The boy wonder examined the gems, concentrating as hard as he could. "From a certain point of view, one could probably also interpret the shape they make to be, in a rather simplistic style, to be the shape of a human being." He gestured towards the blue and purple gems at the bottom of the cluster. "Feet." He gestured towards the green and yellow gems that formed the left and right sides of the cluster. "Hands." He pointed at the red gem at the very top. "Head." He pointed at the black gem in the very center of the cluster. "Body."

The titans all looked each other in the eyes once more. "Terra," Robin began. "What you just read. Didn't it say a bunch of stuff about several body parts and elements?"

Terra nodded her head.

"In that case." Robin extended his right hand, his finger hovering in position so that it pointed towards the gem cluster. "Could you please read it again? One line at a time?"

"Consider it done."

The geomancer looked once more at the words engraved on the tablet. "While one foot stands submerged in the water," Terra began.

"Water, water," Robin stated. He pressed the blue gem. "Sounds like the logical choice. What's next?"

"The opposite hand holds lightning in its clutches."

Robin looked back at the cluster of gems, and then pressed his finger against the yellow gem. "A bit obvious, but certainly makes sense so far."

"While one hand grasps at the earth."

Robin pressed the green gem. "Got it."

"The opposite foot kicks wildly against the wind."

For a brief moment, Robin raised his eyebrow in clear confusion. After about a minute, he finally proceeded to press the purple gem. "Weird choice of color to represent wind, but ok."

"The fire in one's eyes."

Robin pressed the red gem.

"Last one?"

"Burn just barely brighter than the darkness in the heart."

He pressed the black gem.

"Moment of truth," said Cyborg.

The gems all glowed in perfect synch the instant Robin removed his finger from the black gem. As the titans continued to watch, a blue circular aura of light appeared around the cluster of gems. Then, with a heavy rumbling noise, the entirety of the wall segment covered by the aura rolled to the left like a boulder. When it finally came to a stop, a gaping tunnel entrance was revealed.

Cyborg nodded his head. "Yep, certainly looks like a secret passage entrance to me."

Robin was quick to act. "Alright team, let's get moving. And remember, stay on guard."

His teammates nodded their heads in acknowledgment. One by one, they all entered the tunnel. Right at they reached the point where the light from outside came to an end, Raven briefly halted. She looked around left to right, eyes narrowed in concentration.

Her teammates noticed. "What is it Rae?"

"Is something wrong?"

"That magic I noticed earlier," Raven explained in response to Beast Boy and Terra's questions. "The one that I thought seemed similar to a glamour. It appears to come to a stop at around this exact area."

Robin thought to himself, considering what Raven had just taken note of. "Hmm, not necessarily of immediate importance, but definitely not to be dismissed either." He nodded his head. "We'll keep that in mind for now. It could yet turn out to be important."

At the sound of rumbling coming from behind them, the six titans turned their heads just in time to see the door to the tunnel finish rolling back into its earlier closed position, placing the tunnel back into complete darkness. Cyborg activated his shoulder light, illuminating the area around them.

"Thanks dude," said Beast Boy.

"No problem," said Cyborg.

"I suppose there's no turning back now," said Terra.

"You have done the stealing of words from my mouth," Starfire agreed.

Robin nodded his head. "Come on," he stated. "Let's keep moving." He looked at Cyborg. "Still got that lead on Aqualad's communicator?"

Cyborg returned to the screen of his tracking program and refreshed it. He nodded his head when the refresh finished and the lead was revealed to still be present, and indicating that they were still on the right track. "Yep, sure do."

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Terra gestured with her head and arm in the direction further down the tunnel. "Let's keep moving."

The titans proceeded to do exactly that. After several minutes, they found themselves gradually quickening their pace as Cyborg's trackers indicated that they were getting close to the position of Aqualad's communicator. "We're almost there," said Cyborg. "His communicator's dead ahead according to my scanners."

"I see light up ahead," said Terra, her finger pointing several feet in front of her. "We're at the end of the tunnel. Come on."

The titans exited the tunnel, entering a circular cavern that was very brightly lit by a cluster of glowing crystals hanging from the center of the cavern's ceiling. This light not only proved a welcome sight after the darkness of the tunnel, but also illuminated the presence of a discarded T-communicator lying around on the very center of the floor.

Terra's eyes widened, and she hurried over to pick up the communicator. She examined it carefully. "This . . . this is Garth's."

"Yep, scanners confirm it," said Cyborg. "That's Aqualad's."

"What do we do now?" Starfire asked.

The titans all looked around the cavern they were in. "Five tunnels," Raven noted. "Six if you count the one we just left."

"Aqualad could be down either one of them," said Beast Boy.

"Yeah," Terra admitted with a groan. "And we could probably easily get lost trying to explore all these tunnels."

"Not necessarily."

The younger titans all looked to Cyborg, who had taken the time to make careful note of one important detail. He pointed towards the top of the tunnel entrance directly in front of the group. "See how each tunnel has a different little picture engraved above the entrance?" His compatriots looked at the tunnel entrances. Sure enough, they saw exactly what Cyborg had just pointed out.

"Huh," said Beast Boy. "This certainly makes things a tiny bit easier."

Robin nodded in agreement. "You've certainly got that right." The boy wonder took a glance at the symbol for the tunnel they'd just left, eyes narrowed as he focused carefully on it, memorizing it as best as he could. "The tunnel we just left? It's marked with a picture of Aquaman's belt buckle. That should be perfectly easy to recognize."

"The other symbols are pretty distinctive too," Beast Boy noted.

"Indeed." Terra nodded her head. "But as Starfire brought up earlier, what do we do now? Like BB said, Garth could be down either one of the other five tunnels, and I doubt we'll have enough time to search all five of them before someone finds out we're down here."

"We'll just have to split up then," Robin suggested. "Hardly ideal, all things considered, but we'll at least be able to cover more ground that way, not to mention have a somewhat higher chance of finding Aqualad and getting out of here before we get caught, assuming we do get caught." He then lifted a finger. "Not to mention. Since there are six of us here, but only five tunnels that need to be actively searched, one of us can probably stay here to keep watch, just in case either Aqualad shows up, or enemies start heading our way."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Cyborg nodded. "You guys go ahead and start looking around. I'll stand guard over here. If I detect anything heading our way, I'll give you a warning."

"Good." The boy wonder looked at the rest of his team mates. "Alright team. Let's get moving."

The five younger titans all headed off down the five unexplored tunnels. Robin, flashlight at the ready, rushed down a tunnel marked with an engraving of a clashing sword and trident. Starfire, a star bolt active around her right fist, calmly made her way down a tunnel marked with an engraving of a lightning bolt. Beast Boy turned into a bat and flew off down a tunnel marked with an engraving of what looked like a large wave of water. Raven, eyes and hands glowing with shadowy energy, swooped down a tunnel that was marked with an engraving of, redundantly enough, what looked like the entrance to a cave. Terra, meanwhile, entered the tunnel directly in front of the one she and her friends had just exited, marked with an engraving of a star with an angry eye in the center, using her powers to cause a line of glowing white gems similar to the one providing light in the 'intersection' to descend from the tunnel's ceiling and illuminate her way forward. Once the five younger titans had all vanished from sight and hearing range, Cyborg activated his scanners and set to work on guard duty.

. . . . .

Terra slowly made her way down the star tunnel, making sure to summon more glowing crystals as needed to keep her path well lit. Naturally, she also kept her eyes and ears open as she searched everywhere she could for any sign of Aqualad. "Come on Garth," she said half to herself. "Where are you?"

She drew Aqualad's communicator back out of her belt, once again looking through the notes he'd made the previous night. "He did make notes about some sort of 'star' being potentially of high importance," she noted once more, just as she'd done the last couple times she'd checked these notes. "The tunnel I'm in is marked with an engraving of a star. That means I'm on the right track . . . right?"

She paused, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Keep it together," she said to herself. "Panicking and losing your mind with worry over his wellbeing isn't going to help him." She took one final deep breath, exhaling slowly.

When she finally opened her eyes, she narrowed them at the sight of another bright light several feet ahead of her. "Hmm," she thought to herself. "Looks like the rest of this tunnel is more brightly lit. Could be helpful." Deeming the light from this area ahead of her sufficient for her to reach that area, she deactivated her powers and walked straight ahead.

. . . . .

Robin made his way carefully down the weapons tunnel, masked eyes narrowed as he focused intently on what he could see in the beam of his flashlight. "There's got to be some sort of clue around here somewhere," he whispered to himself. He looked around some more, continuing his trek down the tunnel in the process. "The clues are always there," he noted, remembering a tip from his days as Batman's sidekick. "You just need to know how and where to look."

He noticed something out of the corner of his eye, and he directed his gaze and flashlight in the appropriate direction. He thought to himself as he focused his sight upon the large mysterious green stain that he now saw across a large portion of the left wall of the tunnel. "Strange," he noted to himself. He placed his gloved finger on the stain. "It's dry." He thought to himself some more. "What could it be?" He took a closer look. "It could be some sort of slime. . . or maybe it could even be blood."

For a brief moment, he felt understandably nervous at the thought of the stain possibly being from blood. Then he realized another couple important details, and he exhaled in relief. "No, it's not Aqualad's," the boy wonder said to himself. "For one, Aqualad's blood isn't green last time I checked. Besides, even if his blood were green, this still wouldn't have come from him anyway. From how dry it is, this stain's been here for at least a month, maybe a year." He nodded to himself. "Regardless, definitely best stay on guard. Regardless of where this blood came from, there's almost certainly something dangerous responsible for this blood ending up on this wall." He continued trekking down the tunnel, now even more alert for signs of potential danger.

. . . . .

Raven slowly levitated down the cave tunnel, eyes and hands glowing as she searched everywhere she could for any sign of Aqualad. Throughout the entire time, she found herself feeling privately quite annoyed at how she was so far _still_ having no luck successfully making any psychic contact with him. "Where could he be?" the half demoness thought to herself.

She took notice of something on the wall to her left, and she paused to examine it. At the sight of just what was engraved on the wall, her purple eyes narrowed. "It's the exact same star drawing and series of glyphs as the one in the entryway." She thought to herself. She now couldn't help but remember what the soldiers had told her about the cult that had supposedly been former inhabitants of the cave system where the outpost was now located. "I'm starting to get the feeling that this cult may never have truly left." She turned away from the drawing and glyphs and proceeded to continue levitating her way through the tunnel.

The sorceress eventually came to a stop again, but this time in confusion. She could now catch sight of a faint glow coming from further down the tunnel. The glow, though faint at the moment due to the distance, seemed similar to the glow given off by the glowing crystal from back at the intersection. Yet this light, for some reason, was green instead of white, and looked almost like it were coming from one of Starfire's starbolts instead.

"Starfire?" she asked, slowly levitating towards the light while still keeping her guard up. "Is that you?"

. . . . .

Beast Boy slowly flew through the wave tunnel, putting his bat form's echolocation to very good use indeed. So far, much like his friends, he had made no progress in figuring out Aqualad's whereabouts. "Good grief," he thought to himself. "Where is he?" He found himself having to abruptly stop to a halt in order to avoid crashing into one of the tunnel's walls, and he hissed in irritation. "And how the heck long _is_ this tunnel? I feel like I've been in here forever."

He briefly came to a stop, reverted back to human form, and panted for breath. "Man," he whispered to himself. "I really wish that sea animals weren't the only things he could talk to with his telepathy. Not only is there no water in this cave for me to use in order to stay alive in those forms, but even the ones that _don't_ need water to stay alive would still have a hell of a time trying to find their way through all this darkness."

The changeling sighed. "Well, I suppose complaining about how much easier this could have been isn't gonna make things any easier, let alone help Aquadude." He nodded his head. "Here goes nothing." He turned back into a bat, let out a screech of his echolocation, and then resumed his trip down the tunnel.

After what felt like an hour, he stopped again. He could now hear what sounded like rushing water. "Interesting," he thought to himself. He resumed his flight, the noises getting louder as he continued further down the tunnel. "I wonder what that's all about."

. . . . .

Starfire, meanwhile, continued to calmly make her way through the lightning bolt tunnel, her star bolt keeping her path illuminated as she carefully searched for any sign of her missing teammate and friend. Unlike her friends, however, she mostly managed to remain completely calm. "Remain the calm," she thought to herself. "Wherever friend Aqualad is, regardless of what is happening to him, panicking over the possibilities will not be of the help."

At the sound of crinkling paper under her feet, the Tamaranean stopped, and looked down. Her eyebrow rose in confusion at the sight of at least a dozen discarded scrolls lying around, one of which was now halfway under her foot. Keeping her star bolt active, she carefully scooped up one of the scrolls as best as she could with only one hand, letting it unfurl once she'd lifted it up to her face. Upon taking one look at what was on the scroll, her eyes narrowed. "I suppose this should have been the expected," she grumbled. Naturally, the words on the scroll were all in Atlantean glyphs. Thus, she could not read them. She proceeded to unfurl the rest of the scrolls to the best of her ability. All of them yielded similar results.

"I am beginning to wonder if Terra would have had better luck with these if she'd been the one exploring this tunnel instead of me," she thought to herself.

She caught a strange scent in the air coming from further down the tunnel, and her eyebrow rose in confusion. "That smell," she thought to herself. "It reminds me of the incense I have smelled every now and then while flying nearby churches." She sniffed some more. "Yet also mixed somewhat with the aromas of sea salt and kelp."

She took another confused look down the tunnel. "What is going on?" Curiosity piqued, she continued in the direction the strange scent was coming from.

. . . . .

Back at the intersection, Cyborg was still carefully keeping watch for any sign of danger, but was also feeling slightly bored at the current lack of action. "I suppose the lack of action isn't really _that_ bad," he thought to himself. He briefly set his scanners back to tracking his teammates' communicators, a small smile coming on his face as he detected them present within the various tunnels and actively moving. "At least my friends and I are safe. Well, most of them anyway."

He sighed, shaking his head side to side. "Man, I really do hope Aqualad's alright," he said out loud to himself. "Wherever he is."

He took one final look at the results of his recent T-comm search, reassuring himself that his five younger friends currently exploring the tunnels were indeed still alright, and then switched his scanners back to their earlier setting. "Still nothing so far." He shook his head side to side in bemusement. "Man, as much as I usually leave the devil's advocate stuff to Raven, I honestly thought that some unwanted company for us to worry about would have started to arrive down here by now. . ."

His scanners started beeping rapidly. Instantly alert, Cyborg returned his gaze to his scanner screen, and his eyes widened at the sight of it indicating that something had unexpectedly appeared a couple feet behind him in the tunnel leading back to the outpost. "What the?" he thought to himself, too stunned now to properly react. "How did it get this far without getting detect. . ."

He felt a small zap on his back, and immediately after he'd taken a brief stumble forward as a result, he suddenly felt his body start to go limp and saw it turn dull as his mechanics unexpectedly shut down. "Ed?" Cyborg belatedly finished before he fully shut down, and he collapsed facedown on the cavern floor.

He let out a brief grunt of pain, and then tried unsuccessfully to turn his head around to look upwards and behind him. "Grr," he growled. "What the devil?"

He suddenly heard footsteps come to a stop right next to his head. Before he could make note of anything else, he felt something heavy pound against the back of his head. And just like that, he was unconscious.

. . . . .

Starfire came to a stop in a large subterranean chamber illuminated with glowing blue crystals, still looking slightly confused. The strange scent she'd been smelling appeared especially strong within this chamber. She also noted a massive number of discarded scrolls lying around on various areas of the floor, plus myriad Atlantean glyphs and symbols engraved helter-skelter all across the walls.

She then noticed a hexagonal stone sticking out from the wall to her right. Curious, she flew over to it, placing her now star bolt free right hand against the stone that had now caught her interest. To her surprise, the stone retracted into the wall. At the sound of rumbling coming behind her, she turned around in time to see multiple wooden pillars, targets, and other devices rise out of various hiding spots in the floor, walls, and ceiling of the cavern.

The Tamaranean flew over towards one of the targets that had arisen in the very center of the cavern, eyes narrowed in curiosity. She placed her hand against it. "This place, it is beginning to seem the very similar to the gym back at home during times of training." She looked back at the various scattered scrolls and wall engravings. "But why all these scrolls and markings?" She thought to herself some more. "And why would the tunnel leading here be marked with a lightning bolt?"

"It is supposed to indicate how this cavern is where we practice our magic."

Starfire's eyes widened at the sound of the unexpected voice from behind her. But before she could react further, she shrieked as she was suddenly engulfed in a burst of icy mist. She felt herself getting encased in ice while still in the midst of the mist. When the mist finally dissipated, she found herself frozen solid, and completely unable to move. For a brief second she felt a sense of déjà vu as she remembered how she'd fallen victim to a similar trap three years prior at the hands of Professor Chang.

She heard footsteps coming towards her from behind, and she tried desperately to free herself. But of course, she couldn't move, and she was also currently still feeling too immediately distracted and uncomfortable from the cold to properly get her star bolts or eye beams to activate.

The footsteps came to a stop directly behind her. "And I must admit," the being behind her hissed, "as unwelcome as your presence is in this area, you appear to have given me a much appreciated opportunity for a brief chance to practice one of my spells. In fact, there's actually one other spell I might as well practice while I'm at it."

Starfire felt a hand grab her by the top of her frozen head, managing to catch sight of several scaly fingers with claws at the tips. Then she saw the hand glow with black and white lightning, only to suddenly feel incredibly drowsy seconds later. Seconds later, without even fully understanding why, she was fast asleep.

. . . . .

Beast Boy came to a stop directly outside the tunnel, shifting back to human form and landing on a path surrounded from the left and right by large glowing purple crystals. He took a glance at the crystals. He could now see that there were multiple such crystals all around the cavern he was now in arranged in rows and columns similar to crops in a farmer's field. Then he noticed an area straight ahead of him illuminated by white crystals similar to the one from the intersection. The water-like noises he'd heard earlier seemed to be coming from there. He made his way over.

The shapeshifter reached the area with the white crystals. Sure enough, there was a large pool of water present. And crazily enough, there was also, oddly enough, a small waterfall spurting out of a small tunnel located high upon a wall at the very back of the pool's location. He came to a stop at the water's edge, got on his hands and knees, and looked down inside. His eyes narrowed at the sight of a small tunnel entrance near the bottom.

"Hmm," he thought to himself. "Wonder if Aqualad could be somewhere down there?" He looked around the cavern once more. "He's certainly not anywhere in this cavern. It probably wouldn't hurt to search in that tunnel underwater." He got to his feet, drawing out his communicator. "I should probably contact the others and let them know about this development before I start," he said aloud.

"Oh that won't be necessary."

Beast Boy's eyes widened upon hearing the unexpected voice behind him. But before he could turn around to look, he suddenly found his ears practically _blasted_ by an impossibly loud noise. Hissing and snarling from the almost eardrum destroying high volume of the sudden blaring noise, the changeling slammed his gloved palms against his ears, collapsed onto his knees, and clenched his eyes shut tight, his communicator dropping to the ground right next to him and at the water's edge. The changeling felt something heavy slam into the back of his head. He just barely had enough time to register the unbearably loud noise suddenly ceasing before he gurgled groggily, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he collapsed face first upon the ground at the water's edge, completely out cold.

. . . . .

"Starfire?"

Raven came to a stop, the green glow she'd seen now at its strongest. "Hello?" Then she took a good look at where the light was coming from, and noticed that the light was just coming from glowing green crystals. Starfire was nowhere to be seen. "So that's where that glow was coming from." Then she noticed what the crystals were positioned around, and she raised her eyebrow. The crystals were positioned around the entrance of a cave. And eerily enough, this cave entrance looked almost exactly like the engraving that had been marking the entrance to the tunnel that led to this very cave.

"Leave it to me to end up in the creepy spot," she droned to herself.

Shaking her head side to side, she landed on her feet and made her way into the cave.

It took only a minute after entry to this cave for Raven to take notice of what sounded like cracking and rattling coming from under her feet. She looked down, and let a mixture of disgust and surprise come on her face at the sight of the entire floor appearing to be completely covered in bones. "By Azar," she thought to herself. "And I thought Beast Boy's room was a mess."

Her eyes widened seconds later as a disturbing possibility came to her mind. "Wait a minute," she thought to herself. "What if these are Aqualad's?"

She looked down, eyes narrowed in a concentration that belied her slight nerves as she examined the bones on the floor under her feet. She eventually sighed in relief. "No," she thought to herself. "These are all fish bones. Aqualad is not amongst them." She looked ahead. "Best hurry up and keep looking though; before whatever ate all these fish decides he might be worth tasting." She continued to make her way through the cave.

Over the course of her continued exploring, Raven took notice of various more bones and similar remains scattered across the floor, plus multiple other elements that made it clear that she was inside a cave that appeared to serve as a standard living space for some sort of vicious creatures. "Whatever lives here is almost certainly dangerous," she thought to herself, drawing out her communicator in the process. "And since whatever the inhabitants of this cave are appear to be out and about, I'd better let the others know."

"It certainly is a shock to see you here."

Raven had just managed to tense up from hearing the unexpected voice behind her when she found herself blasted from behind by a burst of lightning. Hissing in pain, Raven had just barely enough time to register the fact she was being electrocuted before both the pain and her rapidly draining power caused her to lose consciousness, and she collapsed to the floor in an undignified heap.

The figure who'd just now knocked her out came up to her from behind, coming to a stop and picking up her unconscious body. "Though I will admit, you probably got a much bigger shock out of this little encounter." The figure chuckled at its own joke, and then began to carry the unconscious half demoness out of the cave where it lived alongside its brethren.

. . . . .

Robin came to a stop at a cave entrance illuminated by glowing red crystals. He narrowed his eyes, and lowered his hand to his utility belt. From outside, he could hear the sound of clashing weapons as well as animalistic snarling and hissing. "Better be careful," he thought to himself. "Whatever this area is, it's obviously occupied." Drawing out his bo staff and letting it extend to full length, the boy wonder entered the cave.

Upon entry, Robin saw nothing inside the area. Still keeping his guard up, he looked carefully around the cave, his eyes and ears scanning for any sign or sound to indicate potential danger. Then he managed to get an idea of where the sounds he'd heard were coming from, and he looked ahead towards the cavern floor. He saw a large cliff edge, complete with a small elevated outcropping, overlooking what looked like a giant chasm. Curious, he slowly made his way towards the elevated outcropping, crouching behind it and peeking over the top of it to look down into the chasm.

At the sight of what was at the bottom of the chasm, the boy wonder's eyes narrowed. Milling about within the pit were a massive group of impressively colored scaly beings that appeared to be in the midst of various forms of physical combat. Judging from the way they were behaving in these apparent conflicts and the clear lack of blood, Robin suspected that they were taking part in combat training of some sort. At first glance, Robin thought for sure that they were Trench. But then he took another look and realized that there was something different about these beings. Unfortunately, due to how high up he was, he couldn't get a close enough look at them from his current position to fully get an idea of just what they actually were. And for obvious reasons, he dared not go down into the chasm to get a better look.

"What are they?" he asked himself.

"Glad you asked."

Robin's eyes widened, and he turned his head just in time to see a scaly figure very much like the ones in the chasm standing nearby and hurling a fireball at him. The boy wonder just barely managed to position his cape in time to shield himself from the blast, and he still got sent flying from the sheer force of the fireball's impact against his cape.

Through adept positioning of his hand midflight, Robin was able to halt his unwilling flight backwards and skid to a stop, eyes narrowed as he gazed at his new foe. The scaly being that now stood before him looked very similar to La'gaan, but with red scales, several Trench-like features, and a tail that looked like a mix between that of a crocodile and that of a fish.

"Nice try," Robin growled at his now rather irritated looking assailant. "But you're gonna have to try a lot harder than that to take me down."

"So I will."

The assailant lifted its hands, electricity crackling on its clawed fingers, and then sent a burst of lightning flying from them at Robin. The boy wonder snatched his bo staff back into his hands and started spinning it around defensively. After about a minute, Robin swung his bo staff in a swift uppercut, redirecting the electrical current and sending it rocketing towards the ceiling above his attacker.

The electricity struck the cave ceiling with a boom, sending rocky ceiling fragments to start raining down towards the boy wonder's attacker and also the chasm where the massive group of similar figures were still in the midst of their training. The red scaled figure had just enough time to hiss and lift its arms in a defensive gesture before it was seemingly buried under the rubble falling from the partially collapsing ceiling. But Robin hadn't even turned around to leave the area before he heard hissing coming from the direction of the entrance and he turned his head in time to find that three other hostile figures had entered the room while he was busy dealing with the red scaled figure he'd just now buried.

The boy wonder glared poker facedly at the newly arrived attackers, spinning his bo staff threateningly in preparation for the coming battle. As much as this new development would make his current situation even more difficult, now was not the time to panic. Panicking would only make it even harder for him to resolve his current problems, and it was now highly important that he battled and defeated his new attackers as fast as possible so that he'd still have enough time to leave the chamber and escape before the beings in the chasm successfully arrived at his position to deal with the apparent disturbance themselves.

A blue figure snarled, and sent a jet of water spouting at the boy wonder from its hands. Robin dodged, hurling a voltage disk into the water stream for good measure. The disk exploded, releasing its electrical blast into the would-be assailant's attack, at which point it spread right to the attacker, zapping it into unconsciousness. A yellow scaled figure raised its hands, claws crackling with electricity. The boy wonder hurriedly threw a freeze disk at it before the attack could finish charging, and the enemy had just enough time for a surprised look to pop up onto its face before it was completely encased in a block of ice as a result of the burst of icy mist released from the disk. Robin turned to face the 3rd new arrival, only to be forced to hurriedly start somersaulting and backflipping to stay ahead of a jet of what looked like poisonous green gas that was now spewing from the hands of a green scaled figure.

The boy wonder made it all the way to the edge of his earlier hiding place in his efforts to stay ahead of the gaseous attack before he finally came up with an idea to take out the figure responsible. He drew out his grappling gun, fired at the ceiling area directly above the middle of the gas stream and proceeded to leap over the gas and swing in the direction of the green figure summoning it. In midair, Robin drew out an explosive flame disk from his utility belt and threw it at the gas. The resulting explosion sent the green scaled attacker flying backward through the exit to the cavern.

Robin landed gracefully in a crouching position, pleased with his work, and prepared to leave the cavern. But then six more figures came rushing into the cavern from the entrance, and he mentally snarled. "This just keeps getting better and better," he thought sarcastically to himself, putting away his grappling gun and drawing out his bo staff in the process.

The first of the new attackers, a black scaled figure, charged headlong towards Robin, fangs and claws at the ready. Robin smacked the would-be assailant on the side of its head with a swing of his bo staff, and it stumbled to a halt. Giving it no chance to recover, the boy wonder initiated a low swinging leg sweep, tripping the black scaled figure up and sending it flying towards the boy wonder's earlier hiding place. The figure crashed headfirst against the small cliff and crumbled into a heap, groaning in pain.

A red scaled figure came rushing at Robin next, jumping the last few feet with its claws at the ready to deal an x-shaped slash. Robin blocked the attack with a parry from his bo staff, and then sent the now off balance attacker stumbling backwards with a swift stomp kick to its chest. The stumbling red scaled figure was forcibly shoved aside by one of its comrades, a purple scaled figure that had evidently chosen to be the next to try its luck against Robin.

The purple figure lunged towards Robin, its jaws open to the fullest and ready to sink its nightmarishly sharp teeth into Robin's neck. The boy wonder reacted just in time to punch it in the face with a swift right hook just as it was seconds away from reaching the appropriate distance to bite him. The figure had just started stumbling off balance and dazed from the blow when the boy wonder grabbed it by the shoulders, yanked it forward, and dealt a painful strike to its stomach with his right knee. The monster hissed in pain, reflexively reaching towards its stomach when the boy wonder let go of its shoulders, and was then sent flying back when the boy wonder dealt a swift flying ninja kick to the jaw.

A green scaled figure, already in the midst of rushing in Robin's direction just barely managed to hop to the side in time to avoid getting crashed into by its purple compatriot, and it hissed in a mixture of rage and triumph as it got closer to the young caped crusader's position, its tail already in the midst of swinging towards him. Then it hissed in shock when Robin grabbed onto its tail mid-swing, lifted it up, and proceeded to slam it down on the ground left and right multiple times before then hurling it right back in the direction in which it had come. By sheer bad luck on the attacker's part, the purple scaled figure had just now managed to get back on its feet, only for both it and its green scaled comrade to be sent sprawling when the green one crashed into its partner.

A yellow scaled figure was the next to come rushing at Robin, its right fist drawn back to swing at the boy wonder, and its jaws open as it unleashed a savage roar of challenge. Swift as lightning, Robin swung his bo staff, the long metal pole striking a thundering blow to the yellow scaled attacker's throat.

The would be assailant hissed, reflexively bringing its hand to its throat and halting its headlong rush as it gasped and wheezed from the blow. Robin took full advantage of his moment of advantage, spinning his bo staff a couple times clockwise before then positioning it vertically and slamming the lower end down on the yellow figure's right foot. Shrieking in pain, the monster lifted its foot and clutched in its hands as it started hopping up and down, only to shriek in discomfort and pain yet again when the boy wonder swung his staff so that it slammed upwards against its groin. The monster didn't even have time to fully register where the newest bit of pain it felt was even coming from before it was finally sent stumbling backwards; courtesy of a punch to the face from Robin's subsequent right hook. The yellow figure managed to crash right into its red scaled compatriot over the course of its stumble, sending them both sprawling onto the cavern floor.

At the sound of a final shrieking roar coming towards him, Robin turned around just in time to see the last of the new arrivals, a blue scaled figure, soaring towards him in a pouncing lunge. Acting on reflex, Robin grabbed the would be attacker by both wrists. The monster had just enough time to let out a surprised hiss before Robin started spinning himself and the monster around in circles. The monster was just on the verge of throwing up when Robin let go and ended his spin, sending the would be assailant flying straight towards the area where the black scaled figure had been sent sprawling.

As it so happened, the black scaled figure had just now managed to get back on its feet and shake its head to regain its bearings. But the instant it turned its head to look back in the direction of its target, its eyes widened just in time for its blue scaled compatriot to slam headfirst against its stomach, causing it to stumble right over the edge of the small cliff behind it, at which point both figures plummeted down to the bottom of the chasm, hissing and screaming in fright the entire way down.

Robin didn't even pause to see this happen, as he was already rushing head on towards the exit that led back into the tunnel that he'd followed to reach this cavern. "Now I _really_ need to get out of here, before anyone else shows up to try to delay my departure."

The boy wonder had just reached the exit back into the tunnel when he suddenly heard something land on the ground behind him, and felt a scaly hand clench upon the top of his head. Robin jerked to a halt, hissing and snarling in pain as he reached up towards the scaly green hand that had just grabbed him. Right as he was about to grab onto the hand, however, said hand glowed with a miasmic black and white aura, and the boy wonder found himself suddenly feeling unnaturally sleepy. He snarled, gritting his teeth as he tried desperately to will away the unnatural exhaustion he was now inexplicably feeling. But in the end, his willpower, caught off guard as it was, was unable to fight off the tranquilizing force working against it; and within a minute, he was fast asleep.

. . . . .

Terra came to a stop, blue eyes narrowed in concentration as she found herself standing before a large circular door. She was particularly interested, however, in a familiar cluster of gems she saw upon the center of the door. Eyes narrowed, and guard still raised, the geomancer made her way over to the door, hand raised and ready to press on the gems. "Looks like all the really important and high security stuff is behind doors around here," she thought to herself. "God I hope Garth is alright."

Fortunately, as worried as she now was about her boyfriend's wellbeing and hopeful that he'd be on the other side of the door, the geomancer still had her guard up. And at the sound of a noise behind her that sounded very similar to whenever Raven had conjured up a portal, she instantly tensed up, and then turned around to look behind her, powers already activated and sending a small fragment of the path she was walking on flying.

Sure enough, a portal had indeed just now opened behind her, and the rocky fragment she'd just now sent flying in its direction slammed right into the chest of a freakish scaly green figure that was seconds away from stepping out. The monster hissed as the earthen projectile slammed into its chest and sent it flying back into the portal before it had even fully left, the portal closing immediately after the monster and projectile had fully vanished into it.

But Terra had no time to feel pleased with this, as she noticed several other portals open up a few feet further down the path away from the door behind her. And the instant these other portals finished opening, at least a dozen scaly figures similar to the one she'd just knocked away came charging out, the portals closing and fading out of existence far too quickly afterward for her to have any chance of knocking the monsters back through like she'd done with the first such creature to try its luck against her.

Eyes narrowed, Terra took on a battle ready position, eyes and hands glowing in preparation for using her powers. Two of the monsters, one of them red and the other yellow, snarled, extended their clawed fingernails, and charged towards her. This, naturally, proved to be a pointless endeavor from the two monsters, as they were promptly smashed when Terra caused to rocky slabs to rise up from the ground and slam together against them like a crocodile's jaws; and they were still about three yards away from her when this happened. Terra sent the two slabs back down to their original position, revealing the smashed up would be assailants to now be unconscious. The two monsters fell flat on their faces.

Hissing in rage, two other monsters, one green and one purple, jumped over their unconscious comrades and rushed towards Terra as well, claws and teeth at the ready. Terra sent a line of stalagmites erupting towards them at the middle of the path, forcing the pair to split to opposite sides of the path. The green one managed to get a couple feet further ahead of its purple partner, only to then be sent flying backwards by impact from a boulder Terra sent flying at it. The purple being continued forward even as its green scaled partner was taken out, and even managed to dodge two boulders that Terra sent flying at it, only to finally get caught mid-lunge by a third one.

Another pair of creatures began making their way towards Terra, one of them blue and the other black. Terra rolled her eyes, and prepared another attack to send their way. "You'd think these guys would have learned by now," she thought to herself. This time, just to mess around with her latest hopeful assailants, she waited until they were about ten feet away from reaching her before finally triggering her planned attack. Specifically, she caused a small fissure to open up underneath their feet. The two monsters had just enough time to hiss in surprise before they then plummeted down the hole Terra had made in the path, hissing and shrieking the entire way down.

Terra dismissively sealed the fissure, restoring the path to the way it had been. She looked up to face the other six attackers. "You're making this way to easy . . ." Her blue eyes widened at the sight of all six of the remaining figures charging towards her at once. And since they appeared to have already made it halfway to her, it was clear that they'd started running at her while she was distracted with the previous two attackers. In a brief fit of panic, she rapidly sent boulders and other earthen projectiles flying at the six charging monsters, but the monsters easily dodged, hissing at her in an almost mocking fashion as they did so.

Terra mentally cursed. "So much for them making it to easy," she thought to herself bitterly. She prepared herself for physical combat. It was clear from how fast her six remaining attackers were running that she'd have little time to successfully unleash further geokinetic attacks against them; thus, physical combat would have to do.

The first of the six attackers, a blue scaled figure, swung its right hand claws at Terra. The geomancer ducked, and then throttled the creature in the jaw with a swift right uppercut. With the blue figure stumbling backwards, a yellow scaled monster slipped past and made its way over to Terra, both hands in position to deal her an x-shaped slash with its claws. She leaped to the right just in time to avoid the attack, and then dealt it a back flip kick to the side of its head, sending it sprawling to the right.

A green scaled figure attempted to attack next, both fists raised as if to slam down on Terra's head. Terra grabbed the monster by both wrists right as it swung both fists downward, lifted it into the air, and slammed it on the ground against its back. A black scaled monster rushed towards her next, fangs at the ready to chomp at her. Terra, timing her move just right, managed to dodge by pulling a leapfrog maneuver, the monster having just enough to hiss in surprise at it before accidentally knocking itself out by slamming headfirst against the door. A red scaled figure was already fast approaching Terra by the time she had focused her attention away from the black figure, its tail already in the midst of swinging towards her. The geomancer jumped over the tail, doing a front flip in the process, and then knocked the attacker's legs out from under it with a sweep of her left leg immediately after landing.

Unfortunately, she was just a few seconds too slow in turning her attention to the last of the six attackers, a purple scaled figure that managed to land a solid punch right to the geomancer's face. Terra stumbled backward, but managed to stop herself by slamming her hands against one of the tunnel walls. The sound of the purple figure hissing got her to turn her head back in its direction in time to see it lunging towards her in preparation for dealing a flying kick to her stomach. Terra dove to her left, turning the impact of her dive into a roll, successfully dodging the purple monster's kick attack in the process. The monster hissed in pain as the flat of its foot slammed painfully against the rocky wall Terra had originally been positioned against.

Terra had just managed to straighten back to her feet and look at where the purple monster had now gone sprawling before she heard a roar from behind her and turned her head in time to see the green monster lunging towards her like a cat. She punched it aside with a left hook to its face, and then grabbed the yellow monster by the tail as it tried to leap at her with a spinning tail attack. Taking advantage of her newfound grip on the yellow figure's tail, she slammed it on the floor left and right, and then spun it around in circles a few times before sending it rocketing up towards the ceiling. The monster's head slammed painfully against the tunnel ceiling, and it landed on the tunnel floor in front of Terra with a thud, completely out cold.

Terra had just two seconds to smile smugly at the yellow monster before she was then sent flying by a painful kick to her back. She managed to turn around to look behind her midflight, landing painfully on her back. Then she heard a hiss, and her eyes widened at the sight of none other than the green scaled monster lunging towards her with a murderous look in its eyes and its claws and teeth at the ready to seemingly go straight for her throat.

Acting purely on reflex, Terra lifted both her legs at once in time for both of her feet to press against the monster's stomach. Without pause, she then used her feet to propel the monster forward away from her, and she managed to get back on her feet in time to see the monster turn the otherwise painful headfirst impact it would have had against the tunnel floor into a roll. But Terra was not about to let it have a chance for further recovery, already rushing towards it even while it was in the midst of its roll.

By the time the green scaled figure managed to regain its bearings and turn to face Terra, it was too late to avoid getting pounded in the face by the geomancer's flying ninja kick. The monster had only seconds afterward to briefly stumble backwards before Terra then grabbed it by both shoulders, lifted it over her head, and then subjected it to a painful piledriver maneuver. The creature's head slammed against the tunnel floor, and it then crumpled to the floor, out for the count.

At the sound of snarling coming from behind her, Terra turned around in time to see the blue scaled figure she'd earlier punched in the jaw coming at her once more. But this time she finally had sufficient time to use her powers against it. And with a swift upward swing of her glowing right hand, she caused a pillar of stone to erupt from underneath the would be attacker, smashing it against the ceiling. The creature managed to hiss in pain and struggle weakly for a few seconds before it lost consciousness. The geomancer dismissed the pillar, and the unconscious monster crash landed hard against the tunnel floor.

The sound of a harsh roar of fury caused Terra to turn away from the unconscious blue monster in time to see the now quite apoplectic purple scaled figure charging towards her with its left fist at the ready to try to punch her. Terra hurriedly got into an appropriate position, and managed to successfully deflect the beast's attempt to punch her. At which point, the two proceeded to engage in a brutal flurry of punches, kicks, elbow strikes, knee strikes, leg sweeps, tail swings, and similar attacks.

Finally, the purple monster managed to put a little too much force behind an attempt to punch Terra, and it found itself stumbling forward and off balance when it unexpectedly struck thin air as a result of Terra using an 'open door' maneuver to dodge. The geomancer immediately capitalized on her foe's moment of weakness, grabbing it by the wrist and yanking it further forward. The monster was able to briefly shriek in surprise before it was then sent stumbling backwards by an elbow strike Terra dealt against the bottom of its jaw. The creature just barely managed to come to a stop to prevent itself from falling on its back, eyes blinded by reflex tears. But in that exact same instant, Terra stomped her right foot on the ground, causing a large boulder to pop up from the tunnel floor. And seconds after the boulder appeared and started floating in the air with a golden yellow aura, the geomancer dealt it a powerful flying ninja kick, letting out an inarticulate yell of rage in the process, and sent the massive rock hurtling straight at her disoriented foe. The boulder slammed against the purple scaled monster, and the creature shrieked in pain as the impact, combined with the continued movement of the boulder, sent it rocketing backward. And by sheer luck on Terra's part, the red scaled figure she'd earlier tripped up had finally gotten back on its feet and regained its wits when both its purple compatriot, and the boulder she'd just now used, crashed into it. The two figures slammed against the nearby locked door, the boulder crumbling to dust afterward. With the boulder now gone, the two monsters had just enough time to let out a pained wheeze in unison before crumpling unconscious to the ground in an undignified heap.

For a few seconds, Terra remained in a three point crouch, panting and gasping in a mixture of exhaustion and relief. "Man, that was tough," she thought to herself. She straightened back to her feet, briefly wincing from the pain in her back from when she'd earlier been kicked. "That's probably gonna have a serious bruise later." She shook her head side to side to clear her thoughts. "But on the bright side, at least it's over with. Now all I need to do is see if I can real quick explore what's behind that door before anyone else unfriendly drops by."

She rushed over towards the door, eager to open it and explore whatever was behind it. Right as she was about to press her finger against the blue gemstone affixed to the door, a burst of water suddenly erupted from underneath her. Terra just barely managed to swiftly take a deep breath before she was completely engulfed. Unfortunately, Terra's situation soon became much worse when the water spout detached from the ground and coalesced into the shape of a giant levitating orb of water.

Fighting to stay conscious, Terra found herself frantically pounding her fists and feet against the walls of the orb. Unfortunately, her efforts proved ineffective. "No," she thought weakly to herself as her energy started rapidly reaching its last reserves. "I . . . can't . . . not . . . like . . . this. . ." The last of her strength finally left her, and bubbles spewed from her mouth when it ended up snapping open. Seconds later, the orb of water suddenly lost shape, all the water falling and splashing harmlessly against the floor. At that point, Terra was so weak and barely even awake that she didn't even register the moment that she plummeted towards the tunnel floor herself seconds later. That is, until she landed on the now quite wet tunnel floor with a thud, blacking out immediately after impact.

. . . . .

The tall yellow figure waited for about a minute just to make sure that the blonde geomancer it had just finished knocking out was truly unconscious. Once it was clear that Terra would not be waking back up in the near future, the figure exhaled in relief. Then it walked over to her, a wary look on its face as it now planned to make sure that it hadn't accidentally killed her.

It came to a stop at Terra's position, got on its knees, and placed one of its clawed fingers against her throat. It let out a low hiss of relief when it successfully detected a pulse. The geomancer was alive. Granted, it would take a fair amount of time for her to fully recover from her near drowning, but the fact that she was even alive at all was all that mattered for now.

Satisfied, the figure clasped its fingers around a conch shell shaped talisman attached to a chain around its neck. The talisman glowed. "The geomancer is down," the figure hissed aloud, the words it was speaking simultaneously being telepathically broadcast into the minds of its multiple underlings. "She managed to put up a considerable fight, but I was able to take her out in the end. She was already at the entrance to the lab when I caught her, so that's one less bit of work for us to take care of. That in mind, bring the other five surface dwellers over to the lab immediately. I want all six of them in the lab and ready to be presented to the star before they wake up. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," countless voices yelled in unison in their leader's mind.

"Excellent. Don't keep me waiting."

The figure let go of the conch shell amulet, moving its grip over to a purple talisman attached to another string around its neck. It was now time for it to inform its own superior about the good news.

 **And just like that, another chapter over. And hooboy, all of the Titans have now been caught. Not good! What's gonna happen to them next?! Regardless, hope very much that you read and enjoyed this new chapter, and that you leave plenty of feedback (remember, an exact minimum of one review is required for this chapter before I allow the next one to be posted).**

 **Coming up Next: The six captured surface dwelling titans wake up to find themselves in the very same lab that Aqualad was exploring the previous night. And from there, the time comes for a massive number of the questions raised over the course of this story to receive their answers. Who/what are these mysterious scaly figures that have captured the Titans? What do Omoros and the 'Atlantean' soldiers of the outpost have to do with any of this? Who/what was that mysterious monster within the lab? Is the strangely familiar figure who knocked out Aqualad in fact Kaldur? If yes, how is he alive? Who is the mysterious figure serving as master to these beings that Trident has allied himself with? Just what is that figure's plan? And speaking of plans, just what does said figure have in mind for the Titans instead of killing them like Trident wanted? Find out next time!**


	13. Subject to Testing

**Hey everyone! I hope you're ready for yet another chapter of this 'episode', because here we are! In this chapter, the newly captured titans wake up in the very same lab that Aqualad had been exploring the previous night. And not too long after they've all woken up, a contingent of their captors enter, and their mysterious 'master' himself also deems it finally time to show his face to them. And from there, the time comes for a large number of the questions currently raised so far with this story to receive some much needed answers. Ready to figure out the answers (or get them confirmed for those who've already guessed)? Let's get to it!**

 **A/N: But first, let me remind you that I own neither the Teen Titans, nor anything else explicitly based in DC canon. Get that? Got that? Good. Onward with the fic everyone!**

 **Chapter 12:**

 **Subject to Testing**

Robin woke up, groaning in half pain and half exhaustion. His eyes still clenched shut, the boy wonder shook his head side to side to regain his bearings. With great effort, he managed to open his eyes, gazing groggily ahead of him. When his vision finally cleared back up, his eyes narrowed. Already he remembered what had happened immediately before he'd gotten knocked out, and he could also tell from one look at his current surroundings that his current situation looked far from ideal.

From what he could see directly in front of him, he appeared to be in some sort of laboratory. His eyebrow raised upon sight of a particularly unnerving looking machine hanging from the ceiling that he had a feeling was probably some sort of ray gun. The fact that the device in question appeared to be pointing straight in his direction hardly made him feel any better. Then he looked at the floor, and his eyes narrowed once more upon sight of an especially familiar looking drawing and series of Atlantean glyphs engraved upon it. "The exact same one from that tunnel we traveled to from the T-sub to the outpost." He lifted his gaze back up to glare at the door. "With everything that's going on right now," he thought to himself, "there's no way that this 'abyssal star' _can't_ somehow be involved."

In a brief moment of rage, he tried to lunge forward, only to snap back with a hiss at a sudden pain he felt around his wrists and ankles. Once he'd sufficiently recovered, the boy wonder examined his wrists and ankles, his eyes narrowing once more at the sight of metallic cuffs locked around them and keeping him pinned to what he could now identify as some sort of restraint table. His limbs were all positioned so that they allowed his body to form the shape of an x. "Hmm," he snorted, nodding his head up and down in grudging respect. "I'll admit, probably should have expected this."

At the sight of a gleaming set of objects out of the corner of his eye, the boy wonder looked over in the direction of a table located several feet ahead of him. At the sight of a set of very familiar looking lockpicks, plus an equally familiar looking belt, lying on top of the table in question, he gritted his teeth in a silent snarl. He looked down towards his waist. Sure enough, his utility belt had been removed. Next he moved his fingers all through his gloves as best as his current state of restraint allowed, snarling audibly as he realized that, with the exception of his hands, his gloves were empty. "Smart move," he whispered under his breath. "It's not every day I encounter a villain smart enough to remove my utility belt, let alone check my gloves for the lockpicks I keep there and have them removed as well."

At the sound of groaning and low electrical buzzing, Robin turned his head to look to his left. His eyes widened upon sight of a similarly restrained and unconscious Starfire and Cyborg positioned right next to him. He immediately turned his head to look to his right. Sure enough, a similarly restrained and unconscious Raven, Beast Boy, and Terra were positioned directly to his right. He slammed the back of his head against the table he was restrained to, groaning irritably. "I should have guessed that I wasn't the only one that ended up getting caught."

Robin heard groaning and electrical buzzing once again, and he looked back to his left. He immediately made a silent 'oh' of comprehension as he finally noticed that Cyborg's mechanical parts were flickering between bright and dull, and that Cyborg himself was groaning groggily as he clearly started slowly regaining consciousness. Despite the currently less than pleasant circumstances they were all in, Robin let a small smile come to his face. "Well on the bright side," he whispered. "At least I'm not alone."

His smile widened when he heard several other people start groaning. Sure enough, as he looked around, he noticed that all the other founding Titans were similarly starting to regain consciousness. "Yep," he whispered. "Definitely not alone."

Cyborg was the first to wake up, and it took only seconds for his human eye to widen in surprise. He looked around. "What the? Yo! Where am I?"

"Best guess? Some sort of lab."

Cyborg turned his head to look to the right, a wary look of suspicion on his face that soon softened upon recognizing Robin. "Well I suppose that's probably obvious enough." The half robot took note of the other Titans that were slowly working to regain consciousness. "So," he then said to Robin. "You guys got caught too huh?"

"Sure did." Robin nodded his head. "Let me guess. They got you first?"

Cyborg nodded his head. "Guilty. Caught me completely unawares to. No idea how; but somehow, whoever it was who got me managed to pull that off."

"Well that certainly explains why you didn't give us any warnings."

Robin and Cyborg both looked to their right just in time to see Raven close her eyes and grit her teeth, seemingly wincing from a flash of pain. They also noticed Beast Boy, directly to Raven's right, let out a brief yawn, and then start blinking his eyes as he slowly returned to full consciousness. Raven, as Robin and Cyborg had already guessed, had naturally been the one who'd just now spoken.

Raven's brief migraine ended, and she turned her head to her left to face Robin and Cyborg. Beast Boy, having now managed to fully wake up and realize in shock just what was now going on, similarly turned his head in that direction. "Dude!" the changeling yelled. "What happened?"

"Well," Cyborg responded, "as you can probably guess." He gestured with a slight movement of his head towards his restrained left arm. "We appear to have gotten caught. And whoever it was must have been pretty smart about it to. As far as I know, I was the first to get jumped and knocked out. The rest of you guys obviously followed not too long after that."

In that instant, the four Titans all had their attention drawn to Starfire just in time for them to see the Tamaranean princess finally regain full consciousness herself. After briefly looking around, she let a weak smile come on her face as she looked at her friends. "Hello friends," she stated. "I see I am not the only one who got caught."

"Nope," Cyborg confirmed, his eyes closed as he nodded his head in confirmation. "They got us all."

"Whoever 'they' might be," Raven droned.

Starfire sighed, and hung her head. "I see. I will admit, this is quite the unfortunate."

Raven scoffed, rolling her eyes in the process. "Really? I never would have guessed."

"Well look on the bright side dudes." Beast Boy nodded his head. "At least we're all alive and together."

"True that," Cyborg agreed.

"A point of fairness." Starfire nodded her head. "And I will admit, it does feel nice to no longer be the frozen solid. Granted, it would be the lies if I were to say I was back at full strength. But I am confident that I should hopefully not have to wait too long before I fully recover."

"Lucky you." Raven winced as she felt another flash of pain in her head. "Whoever it was that captured me really took a lot out of me with that lightning he blasted me with. I'm honestly surprised I'm even still alive."

"Tell me about it." Beast Boy winced, seemingly suffering from a brief migraine himself. "Man, at this rate my ears will be ringing for a weak from all that noise I got blasted with."

The changeling looked back at Starfire, his eyebrow rising. "Nice headband by the way."

The rest of the founders all looked at Starfire, only now finally noticing that the Tamaranean did in fact have a metallic headband-like device around her forehead. "Huh," said Cyborg. "Looks just like that headband she had on her forehead when she was held prisoner on Blackfire's ship a couple weeks ago."

Starfire shuddered. "Please friend, do not remind me."

"You're not the only one Star."

Robin nodded his head. He could now see that Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Terra had similar headband-like devices on as well. "The rest of us appear to have headbands like that on as well." He briefly thought to himself. "Then again . . ." He looked over at Starfire. "Do I have one?"

Starfire shook her head side to side. "No you do not."

"Whoever caught us probably didn't think you'd need one," said Raven. She nodded her head. "I just now tried to access my powers, and something's interfering with my ability to focus hard enough to access them. You already said they look just like the ones Starfire had during her time as Blackfire and Cometbolt's prisoner. They all probably serve similar functions as that one."

"That certainly appears to be the case with me," Beast Boy commented. "I just now spent the last few seconds trying to transform. Can't find any of my animal forms. Not even the Beast."

"I guess that explains why you didn't get one of these Rob." Cyborg nodded. "Heck, whoever it was that captured us probably only gave me one just in case I had anything in my tech that I could use without tapping into my arm."

At the sound of groaning from Beast Boy's right, the founding Titans all looked towards Terra in time to see the geomancer finally starting to wake up. When her eyes finally opened, a cheeky grin popped up on Beast Boy's face. "And she's alive," the changeling stated, clearly unable to resist the opportunity. Starfire raised her eyebrow, and the other three founders rolled their eyes.

Even Terra seemed not entirely in the mood. "Very funny," she grumbled in a still slightly groggy tone. She examined her surroundings, gradually looking more wakeful in the process. "Where are we?" she asked.

"Aside from the fact that we appear to be in some sort of lab," Robin began. "I'm not really sure."

"Thank you for summing that up."

Terra looked directly ahead, her eyes narrowing at the sight of a heavy circular door. "I remember being outside a door like that before I got attacked, and eventually knocked out." She looked at her friends. "Did you find a room like this in any of the tunnels you explored?"

The five founders shook their heads to indicate 'no'.

"I did find the entrance to an underwater tunnel within a large pool of water that I found in the chamber at the end of my tunnel," Beast Boy added. He thought to himself. "Though I will admit, whether or not this laboratory was what I would have found on the other end of that tunnel is probably debatable."

Terra sighed. "I suppose I have my answer now as to what was on the other side of that door." She observed the area once more, taking note of every detail she could. "And there's no sign of Garth." She sighed. "Great . . . just . . . great."

"Don't give up hope yet," said Beast Boy. "I'm sure we'll find him somewhere. Like I said, there was that underwater tunnel I mentioned, and there may yet have been a couple other areas in the chamber where that pool was located that I probably could have searched more thoroughly before I got caught."

"Friend Beast Boy is right," Starfire agreed. "Let us not give up hope for friend Aqualad to turn out alright."

The rest of the founders similarly indicated agreement. "I certainly know I didn't get to search the chamber at the end of my tunnel anywhere near as thoroughly as I would have liked before I got caught," said Robin. He looked at his restrained left wrist, masked eyes narrowed once more. "Though I'm afraid we might want to place a bit higher priority on getting ourselves free and out of this lab before we put too much further thought on continuing our search for Aqualad."

His fellow founders immediately nodded in agreement. Even Terra found herself nodding in acknowledgement of what Robin had said. "Fair enough," she admitted. She directed a glare towards the door to the lab, her eyes clearly indicating that the power inhibiting headband around her forehead was the only thing preventing her eyes from glowing solid yellow. "As soon as I get out of here, those scaly things that caught us are gonna wish they'd never messed with us! And so help me, I _will_ find Garth, even if I have to beat that information out of some sick freak's scaly little skull!"

Beast Boy chuckled. "That's the spirit."

The Titans heard footsteps coming to a stop on the other side of the door, and their eyes widened. It now seemed quite likely that they wouldn't be alone in the lab for much longer. Sure enough, they heard what sounded like a claw tapping against the door. "Get ready team," Robin said to his teammates. His teammates nodded, and all six Titans focused their attention towards the door, bracing themselves for whatever ended up entering the lab.

A star-shaped engraving on the door glowed with a brilliant blue light, and then the door rolled aside. No sooner had the door opened when a group of scaly figures entered. They all gathered around a large glowing clock-shaped machine that looked like some sort of containment device. Six of the figures stood together directly in front of the machine, five others formed a crescent shape behind the six standing together, and the remaining two crouched like gargoyles to the left and right of the machine. Robin and Terra, having managed to get a good look at their brethren at the moment of their capture, instantly narrowed their eyes at the sight of them. The other four Titans, however, had varying degrees of surprise, nerves, and disgust come upon their own faces.

"Dude, you fugly," said Beast Boy.

One of the beings at the front of the group, a purple scaled figure, raised its eyebrow. "I fail to understand what you mean."

"He's probably just trying to say that we're ugly," a green scaled figure grumbled.

The purple one seemed to become even more confused. "Then why did he not just say so?"

"It matters not," said a yellow scaled being at the exact front of the group. He nodded his head. "It would not be the first time our kind have been called ugly. And besides, there have been far worse insults by which others have referred to our kind. Furthermore." He looked straight at the six restrained Titans. "We have more important matters to attend to."

"If you say so . . . sir."

All six of the beings at the front of the group, plus the 7 others behind them, all turned their attention towards the six Titans. The yellow leader nodded his head. "It is nice to see that you are all awake." He gestured to indicate the entire lab. "Welcome to the laboratory."

"Charmed," Raven droned sarcastically.

"Their politeness is most appreciated," Robin grumbled in agreement. He glared back at the leader. "I hope you're also polite enough to not keep us waiting. Trust me, I'm not in the mood for games."

"You heard him," said Terra. "Cut the crap freaks. What do you want with us? And where's Garth?"

A black scaled figure standing directly to the leader's left hissed in amusement. "Nice to see that we're not the only ones who mean business around here."

The leader nodded. "I will admit, I would have preferred for the situation to not have come to this." He shook his head side to side. "But after what happened last night, combined with how suspicious your friend Garth, and likely all of you, had already gotten before then, I suppose it was only a matter of time before our hand was forced." He gestured his hand towards the Titans. "And here we are."

Beast Boy snarled, clearly not amused.

"As for your questions," the leader continued, "they shall be answered within the near future. Of that, I give my word."

"Oh, I feel _so_ reassured right now," Cyborg grumbled.

"I will admit, as much as I consider myself a man of my word, I have recently been forced to make a few glaringly empty promises over the last few days."

The yellow monster nodded his head. "As necessary as said promises were, I nonetheless feel a slight bit of regret in making them." He looked over at Terra. "I can only hope that you and Garth come to forgive me for those promises at some point or other."

Starfire looked at Terra, clearly confused. "Terra? What is he talking about?"

"No idea."

Terra looked back towards the leader, a similarly confused look on her own face. "I'm sorry. Have we met?"

The yellow monster briefly appeared just as confused as the Titans. Then realization seemed to hit him. "Oh right, of course," he said. He shook his head side to side. "I forgot; you are not as familiar with me from this side of the glamour. Silly me."

He raised his hands, a look of concentration on his face, and began making what seemed at first glance to be a series of random hand gestures. "Excuse me for a moment."

A few gestures later, a large glowing rune materialized in the air in front of the monster's hands, and the monster briefly seemed to flicker into a yellow blur like a hologram. Then the yellow blur focused back into a clear form, and the Titans saw a man with golden blonde hair dressed in what appeared to be Atlantean armor. The man lifted his head, and all 6 Titans' eyes widened at the sight of the shockingly familiar face that they now saw looking at them.

"I presume this form is enough to jog your memory a little?" said Omoros.

"You son of a," Terra hissed, briefly jerking herself forward in an effort to break free.

Omoros nodded, and then snapped his fingers, causing the glamour spell he'd cast to be dispelled. Back in his apparent true form, Omoros nodded his scaly head. "Indeed. And before I allow this meeting to truly get started, I will say this. It really is a pity what ended up having to happen to Garth."

All six Titans' eyes narrowed.

"A pity?!" Beast Boy snarled.

"What have you done with him?!" Cyborg yelled.

A red monster standing to Omoros's right leaned forward, an angry look on its face and its finger pointed threateningly at the Titans. "SILENCE WHELPS!"

Omoros clenched his right hand around his red compatriot's left shoulder, and held his left hand towards the Titans in a placatory gesture. "Calm yourselves," he said in a disturbingly calm tone of voice as he directed a side glance towards his comrade. "All in good time."

He looked back at the Titans. "Like I said, it is a pity what had to be done." He nodded his head. "We could have easily led him all the way to greatness if just a few more things had been in our favor on his account. He had the blood, he had the power, and he even had the necessary blessing."

He lifted his left hand, an ominous black aura glowing around it. "If he hadn't chosen to squander his potential immediately after he'd finally fulfilled his destiny, he would have probably been a perfect successor to our former leader."

For a brief moment, the Titans all looked half unnerved by the black aura around Omoros's hand and half confused about what he was talking about. Then Terra's eyes widened. "Oh . . . my . . . God!" She jerked forward, her fists clenched and a silent snarl on her face. "Of course! It all makes sense now!"

The black scaled monster standing next to Omoros directed a smug grin towards the geomancer. "Really now?"

The red scaled monster similarly grinned. "Why don't you enlighten us then?"

Omoros nodded his head. "I agree with my fellow acolytes. Go on ahead Terra of Markovia. Tell us and your friends what you have now found out so clearly."

"Wish granted," the geomancer growled. She lowered herself back to her initial position, a defiant look still on her face as she continued gazing at Omoros and his comrades. "Garth told me all about you. You're abyssals. Referred to as such because of the abyss you were sentenced to live in after you were all banished from Atlantis for practicing Atlantean black magic!"

"Indeed so," admitted the green monster standing amongst Omoros's immediate entourage.

"And that same tabooed magic?" Terra snarled. "It was the exact same kind practiced by your former master, the same man in whose honor you chose to form a secret cult after he was first imprisoned in that alternate dimension he got sent to; Garth's uncle Zath!" She nodded her head. "I will admit, your current physical appearance did throw me off a little, but after all you've just said? There's no other explanation as to what you could be."

"Exactly." Omoros nodded his head. "Ever since he was first imprisoned in the alternate dimension King Thar banished him to, we have been doing everything in our power to attempt to continue carrying out Zath's vision as we believe he would have wanted. But by the time we'd all finally managed to get confident in our work and started truly getting a handle on our master's magic, the truth about Zath's plans had managed to become public Atlantean knowledge, and we all got caught in the act not too long afterward. Several of us were stupid enough to consign themselves to the death penalty during the trial we all got treated to, but the rest of us were all smart enough to accept exile, and willingly allowed ourselves to be driven off into the abyss that was chosen to be our new home."

His black scaled comrade hissed in acknowledgement. "His majesty thought we would all die in that abyss." He looked at the Titans. "And all the other Atlanteans were similarly of unflattering opinion towards us. Our spies told us everything. The insults they referred to us by, the jokes made at our expense, and the threats involving us that were invoked by Atlantean mothers to try to get naughty children to behave. But we weren't cowed; not in the slightest."

"Yes," the red monster agreed. "In fact, we even chose to embrace these insults just as much as we'd already embraced our loyalty to Zath." He lifted his left hand, glancing at it with a smile. "In fact, with the desire we later gained to try to incorporate a little science into our magic, we decided to take how we tended to be referred to as monsters to its logical extreme. After all, what better way to embrace being called monsters then to make ourselves look the part?"

"It took a nightmarish amount of time," said the purple monster. "Thirteen whole years to be exact."

"But as you can see," the green monster continued. "We eventually managed to perfect, and mass produce a potion that brought about the desired result. But even after that, we still ended up spending another year or so keeping to the shadows and causing minor bits of mischief before an opportunity finally came for us to regain our glory when our master Zath was, at long last, finally released as had been foretold."

"Indeed," said the final member of the group's six leaders, a blue scaled figure that had up till now remained silent. "But tragedy struck not too long afterward when Zath was defeated in battle once in for all by both King Orrin _and_ the very nephew Zath had blessed and granted the power to bring about his return."

Omoros nodded his head with a somber look on his face, and so did 11 of his brethren. A somewhat younger looking black one crouched to the left of the mysterious machine, strangely enough, didn't take part, and chose to glare in disinterest at the nodding red creature crouched on the opposite side of the machine instead. Strangely enough, it's eyes were dark purple instead of amber or red.

"With Zath's glorious return thwarted, Garth having cast aside his worthiness and potential, and all of us having been foolish enough to not decide in advance a worthy replacement amongst us, we were forced to grudgingly return to the caverns that we'd secretly relocated to in the years leading up to Zath's return." Omoros lifted his head to once again face the Titans. "And from there, it took another three years before we finally found a worthy being to serve as our new master."

"Of course you did," Cyborg grumbled.

"Let me guess," Beast Boy spat, a glare on his face directed at Omoros. "You?"

"Flattering, but no."

Omoros shook his head. "While I am undeniably the most experienced and highest ranking amongst the abyssals, I am most certainly not the one who now serves as Zath's successor. The being who does?" He allowed a smug grin to come on his face, and directed his eyes down towards the star shaped engraving on the floor. "Ironically enough, he looks almost exactly like the same being who'd once been the subject of focus for a completely different cult that used to live in our current home base many years prior, but had since been lost to history long before we took their former base as our own."

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Really now? Well just where _is_ your new master?"

"Yeah," Terra agreed. "We'd really love to meet him." She looked back at Omoros. "And if you're not the mastermind behind all this, who is?"

"That would be. . . me."

All six Titans raised their eyebrows, clearly confused about the sudden new voice that had just entered the conversation. Omoros and his five fellow acolytes smirked, and then stepped aside. The five soldiers behind them, similarly smirking, also stepped aside, leaving the machine they'd all been standing in front of in full view for the Titans to see. The Titans remained confused, until they then started thinking; was the source of the voice . . .?

"Yes. I am inside the machine you are now looking at."

All of the Titans' eyes narrowed. Starfire leaned forward, wrists straining against the shackles pinning them to the restraint table she was positioned upon, her eyes blazing with fury. "Show your face you coward!"

"Coward?"

A low hissing noise filled the air, and what looked like green mist started rising from the top of the machine. "Dear child, you could not have possibly picked a less accurate term to refer to me by. In fact."

A large purple tentacle-like appendage rose out of the machine and slammed into position over the back rim. "If you knew, who I am . . ."

The rest of the being rose into view from out of the machine, coming to a stop once it had fully reared up to full height. It opened its single giant blood red eye, the ominous black pupil in the very center seeming to bore straight into the Titans' souls. " _You_ would be cowering in fear of me."

. . . . .

For what felt like an eternity, the Titans gaped at the figure that had risen out of the machine, hardly certain whether to feel frightened or burst out laughing. On one hand, the creature in question, now that it was at full height, was about the same size as Cyborg. Not to mention how its single eye that was even now gazing intently at them was pure nightmare fuel. But at the same time, neither of these factors changed the fact that the creature was essentially a giant purple starfish.

The creature nodded. "You are in disbelief. Understandable." He lifted his top left arm directly within range of his eyesight. "After all, considering the quite pathetic native animal from this planet that I resemble, it would be quite easy for beings such as you to find me more laughable then intimidating." He lowered his arm, and directed his soul boring gaze back at the Titans, but this time more towards the direction of Beast Boy, Raven, and Terra then towards Robin. "But then again, there were 7 much older warriors I met a long time ago who similarly thought I wouldn't be that much of a threat. And I can tell you right now that if you asked them, they would not be afraid to inform you that I proved a _very_ big threat indeed. One in particular found that out much earlier then his comrades when he proved stupid enough to get close enough for me to touch him."

The instant he heard these last two words, Robin's eyes widened. "Touch," he thought to himself. "Touch . . . touch . . . the star's touch . . . OF COURSE!" His eyes narrowed, and his teeth gritted into a snarl. "I _knew_ that description I heard from that soldier about the abyssal star sounded familiar!" He leaned his head forward. "I know who you are!"

The starfish tensed up, the 'arm' on the top of his head twitching slightly as if he were positioning an ear.

"Batman told me about you," Robin growled. "You're Starro the Conqueror!"

In a flash, the giant alien starfish turned around to face Robin, his two 'arms' folded together underneath his eye. "Very good boy wonder," he said, his eye agleam with approval. He directed his gaze towards Omoros and the other five 'acolytes'. "It certainly is nice to know that at least one of our guests is familiar with me."

"I remember you being all over the news at the time," Robin continued. "And Batman gave me a much more detailed account of the whole thing later on. You were one of the last threats the Justice League thwarted before the 2010 Thanagarian Invasion."

"And I would have won to," Starro hissed, his eye now narrowed irritably. "If it weren't for the sheer dumb luck of that scatterbrained speedster."

"Ok, no disrespect," said Beast Boy, clearly fighting not to burst out laughing at the seemingly ludicrous idea of the giant purple starfish standing before him having once been a serious threat against the Justice League. "But just how exactly is this thing supposed to be a serious threat?"

"A legitimate question."

Starro turned his head back towards his acolytes. "Janos."

The black scaled acolyte stood at attention, and Starro gestured towards Beast Boy. "Release his right wrist."

The black scaled acolyte snapped his fingers, and the shackle around Beast Boy's right wrist briefly glowed with black energy before the sound of a click split the air, and the now unlocked shackle snapped open.

The Titans all looked in confusion at Beast Boy, who raised his now freed right arm with a confused look of his own. "Ok? What . . ."

The shapeshifter suddenly tensed up, his green eyes widened. Then, much to the shock and horror of the other five Titans, his right hand finger claws extended, and he slapped his right hand into a position that made it look as if he were about to slit his own throat with them.

"Beast Boy!"

"Yo!"

"Friend!"

"Are you crazy?!"

"What are you doing?!"

"It's not me," Beast Boy yelled, clearly panicking. "Someone's . . . making me . . ."

"CORRECT! IT'S NOT YOU! IT'S ME!"

In a flash, the Titans all looked in Starro's direction, only to all turn white in unison at the sight of the now quite furious looking starfish pointing his left 'arm' at Beast Boy with the red parts of his eye glowing a blindingly bright solid purple. Starro nodded his head, his eye narrowing ominously. "Now that I have your attention."

The starfish turned to direct its eye at Starfire and Cyborg. "DO NOT EVEN _THINK_ OF TRYING ANY FUNNY BUSINESS!" He snapped around to face Terra and Raven, but especially Beast Boy. " _OR_ LAUGH!" He snapped around to face Robin. "OR YOUR AIRHEADED LITTLE GREEN _PET_ GETS IT!"

The Titans all gulped, Robin seemingly trying to shrink his head down against his body. As familiar as he was with Starro, even he had been caught off guard by the stunt that the alien starfish had now managed to pull. "This is bad," he thought to himself.

Starro seemed to take three deep breaths, calming himself down. He calmly gazed at Beast Boy, whose right arm abruptly snapped back into its earlier position, courtesy of Starro's potent mind control. No sooner had Starro cut his psychic connection to the shapeshifter's mind immediately after repositioning his arm and retracting his claws, when Janos snapped his fingers and caused the unlocked shackle to snap back into locked mode. Beast Boy panted and gasped, relieved to be alive while still terrified out of his mind by just how close he'd been brought to killing himself against his will. . . and by a _starfish_ of all things!

Starro slapped the tips of its 'arms' together. "Now," he growled. "Unless anyone else would like to challenge my credibility." He directed a withering glare towards Beast Boy, who gulped, visibly shaking at the sheer malice directed at him from Starro's nightmarish eye. Starro looked back towards Robin. "It is high time I get down to business." His eye took on a look that seemed to indicate a smirk. "I take it you are wondering boy wonder, how I was able to pull off that little trick I just used against your pet?"

Beast Boy had to bite his tongue to the point of practically swallowing it to keep himself from complaining over yet again being called a pet.

"Well . . . yeah," Robin admitted. "I mean, I knew you had mind control powers, but . . . it was my understanding you could only use them on a being or creature that you were directly touching."

"Well as you can see, I've managed to get around that limitation. And you can thank this little souvenir my followers gave me for that." He gestured towards the base of the 'arm' on top of his 'head', where Robin could now see had a purple talisman attached to it by a string. Starro nodded, and lowered his right arm away from his 'head'. "With this talisman, sympathetically bound to an artifact that serves as a natural reservoir for magical energy, I am able to channel the appropriate Atlantean magic necessary to allow my natural mind control abilities to be used strictly through concentration without needing to touch the targets I wish to control." He clasped the tips of his arms together once more, nodding his head at the same time. "And with all that power, plus the power and loyalty of my abyssal followers, and the active onsite work that is even now being handled by that Tritonian oaf and his army of those brainless monsters known as Trench, it will not be that much longer indeed before I have vicariously taken over and started ruling over the entirety of the undersea half of this planet. And if I feel like it at any point in the future afterward, perhaps I could go ahead and make a 2nd attempt at making myself ruler of the surface half of this planet."

"But why?"

Starfire shook her head. "Why would you want to do such things? What has the planet Earth done to you?"

"Why? Why?" Starro narrowed his eye, gazing intently at Starfire. "You of all people should sympathize the most with my plight. We both have a very important thing in common after all."

Starfire raised her eyebrow in confusion. "Our names?"

"Neither of us asked to be on this planet."

Starro hung his head, his eye seeming to take on a look of melancholy. "I remember as if it were yesterday, the day I was taken from my home world. I was relaxing peacefully on a rock within a large tide pool, when I saw a large spaceship in the sky, hovering down towards me. I should have tried to flee to safety immediately after I caught sight of it. But I had never seen a spaceship before in my life prior to that moment. And in my curiosity, I proceeded, like a fool, to just remain where I was, gaping in awe towards the ship even as it descended closer and closer towards me. It wasn't until I suddenly found myself encased in a beam of red light fired from the ship's underside and rising towards the ship against my will that I realized how mistaken I'd been in remaining where I was."

He lifted his head. "Having been captured, I was placed in a containment dome within the ship, and the foreigners who'd captured me began to make their way elsewhere. But I was not entirely helpless, and the instant one of them proved stupid enough to come directly within range of my grasp, I seized the opportunity. I latched onto his chest, activating my mind control powers for the very first time in my life. From there, I walked him over to the main control panel for the ship. From there, with my mind control allowing me access to the victim's mind and all his knowledge, it proved easy for me to access the necessary programs, and have the ship redirected away from its originally intended destination to return to my home planet instead." Starro shook his head side to side. "I learned the hard way immediately afterward that I would have been far wiser to be patient enough to wait until my captors had reached their originally planned destination before attempting to initiate a return trip to my home."

"Wait a second." Cyborg's eyes widened. "You tried to set a new course while the ship you were on was already in the midst of traveling through hyperspace to a different location?!"

"In my desperation to return home as swiftly as possible, I indeed did. As it was, I was only just barely able to get myself and the alien I'd placed under my thrall into an escape pod and send it off to the nearest planet in the area the ship found itself forced out of hyperspace at before the entire ship exploded. The escape pod in question ended up crash landing; I miraculously survived, and so did the alien I was controlling, though he was admittedly knocked unconscious. Then again, judging by the ghastly negative way his skin seemed to be reacting to the planet's atmosphere, I wouldn't be surprised if the freak died not too long after I left the crash site without him. I remember multiple inhabitants of this planet running away from me in fear whenever I approached them. All except for seven in particular who promised to help me return home."

"The League," Robin stated.

"Exactly, though your mentor was far warier of me then his six allies of the time. Unfortunately, their promise to help me return home ultimately went nowhere, thanks to the scientists they left me in the care of proving far more interested in keeping me in their lab permanently for study rather then trying to figure out a way for me to get returned home. I ended up staying in that lab waiting for an entire year after my initial landing before I finally realized how my hopes had turned out to be for nothing. And after all the time that's gone by, I quite frankly no longer even care anymore whether this was an accident on the League's part, or a deliberate betrayal.

"But I wasn't going to let the fact that I was apparently going to be stuck on this planet forevermore bring me down. Not at all. For within days after I came to this realization, I decided that, if I couldn't ever return to my home planet, I would just make a new home for myself out of this planet instead. However, there were a few changes and adjustments that would need to be made. Most importantly, as I'd come to learn, the inhabitants of this planet already living there before me simply could not be trusted. Therefore, something had to done with them in order for me to ensure that this planet could indeed become a safe new home for me to live in. From there, I was able to decide on a course of action quite easily. I would kill off all the inhabitants that either proved too dangerous or put up too much of a resistance for me to keep under my rule, and use my mind control powers to subjugate the rest. But first, I needed to both get out of the lab, and acquire a substantial boost to my energy levels."

"I know how this unfolded."

Robin nodded his head. "You managed to trick Superman into getting within reach of you while he was visiting you at the lab one day. You first placed him under your control by grabbing him by the wrist, and then made your way onto his chest so that you'd be hidden from sight under his shirt. You spent an entire week on Superman's chest keeping him under your control before you finally initiated your attack."

"Indeed," Starro agreed. "And I daresay, if I'd spent another few weeks on him, perhaps maybe even a full year, I would have probably gotten enough power to take over the entirety of New York City just by lying down. But that's hardly relevant. Yes, an entire week of keeping the Kryptonian under my control allowed me all the time I needed to finalize my plan as well as just enough energy to have a fighting chance in making that plan a reality. And after I released him from my control, I indeed made my move. Naturally, the Kryptonian, your mentor, and their five allies opposed me. The resulting battle proved quite the ordeal. But in the end, I was defeated when the speedster managed to unwittingly stumble upon the means to take me down."

The alien starfish returned his gaze to Robin. "I suppose your mentor told you about how the League chose to get rid of me afterwards?"

"Zatanna." Robin nodded his head. "She and Batman were childhood friends, and she happened to be in the city you attacked for a magic show. She came over to where the League had you placed under temporary imprisonment following the battle, and she had you frozen alive in ice."

"Indeed, and with that out of the way, your mentor and his friends secured assistance from the king of Atlantis, who helped them place me deep within an undersea tunnel system." Starro nodded, his eye narrowed angrily over the memory. "I spent three whole years frozen solid and hidden away in those tunnels. More than enough time to think about what I would do if I ever escaped. And as my luck would have it, an opportunity to escape came during my 3rd year of imprisonment when you yourselves saw fit to provide me with a cellmate."

"Trident," Beast Boy snarled. "That tunnel system we sealed him and his clones in! It was the exact same one _you_ were in!"

"Exactly. And after initial tension, the two of us were able to form up a small partnership. And once I was free from the ice and had rejuvenated myself with all the energy to be offered by the entirety of Trident's clones, my original plan underwent a slight alteration. With how powerful the Justice League had been even before my imprisonment, and how considerably more powerful they'd become in the years I'd spent frozen in the tunnels, I decided that I would work alongside Trident to subjugate the undersea portion of this planet first before making a 2nd attempt at taking over the surface portion later.

"Unfortunately for me, my cellmate turned out to be far more difficult to work with then I'd hoped. For one thing, he made it clear from day one just how proud and arrogant he was, and how much he only considered me an ally of convenience. Furthermore, the fool was far too much of a warrior for his own good. Always rash and impulsive, and eager to go charging in trident blazing at the first opportunity he saw to enact whatever half-baked plan was first to come to his mind. Naturally, I worked on seeing if I could find another, more helpful, ally on the side while still doing whatever work I could with Trident to keep up appearances. About four years later, I finally found a new ally in the form of the abyssals. And from that point, I dedicated all the time I could to masterfully juggling my time by actively working to formulate plots and schemes with the abyssals while also keeping up appearances as Trident's ally and working to see if I could still use him to fulfill my plans."

Starro clasped the tips of his arms together, nodding his head with a clear look of pride present on his 'face'. "As luck would have it, an unexpected opportunity arose for both land and sea to be subjugated under our rule in one fell swoop when Trident ended up joining forces with a group of surface dwelling villains that called themselves the Brotherhood of Evil. With Trident now working with this brotherhood in its efforts to take over the surface world, and the abyssals and I still under water with all the time in the world to continue our own plotting without the risk of him finding out, it seemed that victory was in our grasp."

"But we defeated the Brotherhood of Evil," Robin broke in. "And Trident was amongst the ones who got flash frozen."

"Indeed, and I will admit that this news did prove a minor setback on my hopes of surface world subjugation getting fulfilled earlier then planned. But fortunately, the abyssals and I were able to continue our work without Trident. Even Trident's eventual escape and return proved but a brief bit of minor difficulty to deal with, as I was able to masterfully put a spin on what had unfolded during his absence and prevent him from figuring out about my alliance with the abyssals."

The alien starfish nodded his head. "And in the end, as I mentioned earlier, after all the time I've now spent plotting, counterplotting, juggling my loyalties, and getting all the necessary pieces in place, the time will soon arrive in which I finally have the entirety of the ocean segments of this planet subjugated under my rule."

"But how?"

Terra shook her head side to side, clearly confused. "How is all this time you've spent plotting in the shadows with the abyssals supposed to grant you the ability to rule over the entirety of Atlantis? And what about Trident and his Trench army? How do they factor into all this if _you're_ the one who's planning to gain rulership over Atlantis in the end?"

"I was just starting to wonder when I'd get the chance to explain it all."

Starro nodded his head. "For starters, I wanted to maintain the illusion of Trident and I still legitimately being allies. After all, he already wanted to take over Atlantis and serve as its ruler himself. I saw no need to make him my enemy, and I also believed having him around to sit on the throne and publicly serve as the ruler of the oceans would give me much more time to work on eventually moving onto subjugating the surface world.

"As for the Trench? Well once Trident was fully back in the picture, it became clear to the abyssals and I that he would need an army if he were to successfully be the one to publicly take over Atlantis as its new king. Allowing him to gain one by cloning himself again would've taken too much time, and would have run too high of a risk of my own secrets getting exposed. Having the abyssals serve as his army also proved out of the question. For starters, he'd already begun to suspect that I was potentially plotting against him when I didn't make any effort to rescue him after he'd gotten flash frozen in the Brotherhood of Evil's defeat, and allowing him to become aware of my work with the abyssals behind his back that had already begun at least a couple months before he even joined the Brotherhood would have only confirmed these suspicions. And even if I hadn't been keeping my alliance with them a secret from him, his own wariness of anything to do with Zath would have been more than enough to kill any chance of him willingly working with them.

"Fortunately, the abyssals had already formulated numerous potential schemes of their own in the years following their former master's banishment to the other dimension. And one such plan that I hadn't already incorporated into my schemes proved just the one we needed to provide Trident with an army."

"The Trench," said Cyborg.

"Exactly. The abyssals had already considered possibly attempting to form an alliance with the Trench; and now they had the opportunity to put a reimagined version of that idea to use. With the abyssals' magic, and my mind control, we were able to successfully get enough Trench on our cause to serve as an army for Trident. We even managed to find a naga in the area that we subsequently had placed under my control to give to Trident as a mount to sweeten the deal we'd be offering him with the Trench army. And after initial reluctance, Trident eventually was able to see reason and accept both the Trench army and the naga. Granted, he did get suspicious over how I appeared in his eyes to want to keep a portion of this Trench army with me at the time in which he was to depart from these caverns and initiate his war with Atlantis. But I was lucky enough to get him to grudgingly accept a promise from me on Poseidon's name that he would not regret leaving any of his soldiers with me."

"You lied to him in an oath on Poseidon's name?!" Terra asked incredulously. "How?!"

"Well here's the thing, I didn't lie. For what I promised was that he wouldn't regret leaving any of his soldiers with me. And since what he believed to be additional Trench warriors under his command were in reality abyssals under my own command, he never left _any_ of his soldiers with me. Ergo, I did not lie.

"Having said that, back on topic. As you all likely know quite well from experience, an army of trench, powerful as they are, still wouldn't necessarily be an army guaranteed to net you a victory. This trench army, however, fits the bill much better than any other trench army. For the same artifact that provides power to the talisman that has enhanced my own powers is also magically connected to three other magical talismans that the abyssals and I saw fit to give to Trident. One of these gifts was a telepathy charm talisman that would allow Trident to communicate with the trench under his command and properly serve as a leader to them, another was a talisman that he could use to channel a spell that would grant his trench soldiers an unnatural boost in strength, and the third was a talisman that would channel a shield spell that, in conjunction with an appropriate rune tattooed upon the trench warriors prior to casting, would grant his soldiers a similarly unnaturally high resilience to magical attacks.

"Furthermore, the same talisman that allows Trident to communicate with his trench soldiers allows him to communicate long distance with me. Thanks to that, I am aware now of how he currently appears to be getting quite close to getting King Orrin and the rest of the fighters at Poseidonis on their last legs. And once that is achieved, he believes that, unless some freak miracle occurs in favor of Orrin, it should not take much longer for him to claim victory. And once he has claimed the throne, he will then proceed to unwittingly hand all his power as ruler of Atlantis over to me without even knowing. For he and I have an agreement that I will stick to the shadows and serve as an advisor to him once he has assumed the throne of Atlantis. Naturally, the abyssals and I plan to take full advantage of my part in this deal, leaving Trident as a mere figurehead sitting comfortably on the throne as the public face of the kingdom while _I_ row the oars and hold all the real power behind his back."

"And I suppose all the abyssals have a role to play in this as well?" Raven asked.

"Exactly. Much like me, all my abyssal followers will be working behind the scenes to ensure that the kingdom I will be vicariously ruling through Trident is run smoothly. Specifically, they will all be serving as my enforcers, tasked with covertly taking care of all the heavy lifting that will no doubt be required to maintain order."

"Sounds like an awful lot of work," said Terra. "Even for 54 abyssals."

"You are certainly correct about how many of us were smart enough to agree to exile after our organization was first caught red handed," said Omoros. He nodded his head. "But surely you didn't think that we wouldn't have worked to find a way to increase our numbers?"

Terra thought to herself, and then winced in embarrassment. "Well, I suppose you have a point there."

"Indeed," Janos hissed. He interlocked his fingers together, a smug toothy grin on his black scaled face. "Long before we found our new master in the abyssal star that now stands before you, we had already been slowly at work in expanding our numbers. And we were not afraid at all to let them go all the way in achieving membership." He pointed towards a shelf filled with glass vials filled with a dark green liquid. "See those? They are all samples of the very potion that we used to acquire our current monstrous appearance. Formed with a mixture of DNA from a trench, a Xebellian sea drake, and a single rather unique Atlantean warrior, all placed within a standard transmogrification potion, we made sure to use this same potion to allow all future recruits to take on the same appearance as we ourselves had chosen to take. Of course, our work at successfully increasing our numbers to the rather high level we desired went by considerably more swiftly once we swore our allegiance to the star."

"Indeed," Starro agreed. "For you see, they were initially getting recruits by covertly meeting up with genuinely guilty criminals in Atlantean jails and spiriting them out to their hideout, at which point they would either drink or be injected with the transmogrification potion. However, once I took my position as their new master, I was able to help them figure out a way to quicken the pace. For one, I helped them set up a means to streamline the means in which the new recruits were subjected to the transformation."

He gestured towards the ray gun-like device dangling from the ceiling. "This machine here? A rather ingenious bit of techno sorcery if I do say so myself. All you have to do is insert the desired sample of a potion, and this machine will convert the potion into an energy beam that will cause any targets it hits to undergo the effects of the potion. And even better? By getting the machine to just the right settings, a single sample of the desired potion can be used to create a beam powerful enough to affect multiple targets at once!

"As for how I got them to quicken the rate at which they found recruits, I had them expand their sights to include capturing beggars, exiles, and other homeless Atlantean degenerates that very few, if any, would really miss all that much. Of course, this naturally came at the cost of the majority of the new recruits proving unwilling. And as you may very well have noticed, those who are unwilling turned out to be far more animalistic after their transformations then the ones who were willing. But in the end, my followers were able to expand their numbers to the desired amount in record time. And to further sweeten the deal, we also ended up getting our hands on a rather unique weapon of opportunity."

Beast Boy gulped. "I don't like the sound of that."

"As well you shouldn't."

At the sound of a low bestial snarling, all the lab's occupants turned their heads towards an area near the potion ray gun that was heavily enshrouded in darkness, the Titans' eyes widening at the sight of a pair of solid red pupilless eyes materializing within the shadows. The creature the eyes belonged to snarled, and the sound of metallic clanking and rattling was heard as it appeared to try to struggle against chains restraining it.

Starro chuckled at the sight of his prisoners' faces. "As it so happened, there was one Atlantean warrior who ended up getting suspicious and concerned about all the disappearing homeless Atlanteans my followers were abducting to use as recruits about a couple months or so before Trident joined forces with the Brotherhood of Evil. He chose to investigate, and ended up caught right here in our hideout. But rather then subject him to the transmogrification, we chose to instead let him stay in his own natural form and serve our cause as a living weapon rather then a soldier. This proved an especially wise idea that made the warrior in question even more useful to us then he'd already been. For you see, this warrior just so happened to be the exact same warrior whose DNA was amongst the ingredients for that very potion!"

Janos snapped his fingers, and a large series of crystals on the ceiling above the snarling red eyed figure abruptly started glowing, leaving the shadowy area it was positioned at completely illuminated. All six of the Titans were quite surprised at the sight of the creature. Robin and Terra, however, were considerably more shocked. For despite Robin having only met this Atlantean at least once or twice in the past and Terra having never met him before, they both instantly recognized the tall, snarling, green skinned, and red eyed humanoid fish-like warrior that now stood in chains before them.

Starro gestured his left arm towards the snarling and slavering Atlantean warrior. "I proudly present to you, La'gaan of Atlantis!"

Beast Boy's widened in shock. "Wait . . . did you just say . . .?"

"My God," shouted a surprised Cyborg. "Tramm's brother!"

Starfire gulped, and turned her head towards Robin. "Robin, was Tramm's brother always this vicious?"

"No."

Robin looked back at Starro, a silent snarl on his face. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing big," Starro stated dismissively. "I just had my followers cast a little mind altering spell on him to give him a mind more similar to that of a mindless trench warrior." He directed a brief side glare towards the snarling Atlantean. "Though I will admit, there are definitely still a few bugs to work out before he can reliably serve as the weapon that I intend for him to be."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Raven asked.

"The spell my followers cast on him currently appears to work a little _too_ well." He gestured towards a shelf that contained multiple vials filled with a bubbling golden yellow liquid. "As it currently stands, we have to constantly give him small dosages of this charm dispelling elixir you see here just to make sure that his aggression stays just low enough for us to be able to keep him under control. And as you can probably guess, it would be most unwise to try to put him to any good use as a weapon when we still haven't yet worked out how to guarantee that he won't end up getting too enraged for us to control him and prevent him from attacking _us_ as well as our enemies."

Five of the Titans glared furiously at Starro as they heard these words. Robin, however, surreptitiously filed Starro's words to the back of his mind. As horrific as La'gaan's current condition was, Robin couldn't help but feel that, in his increasingly high confidence, the alien starfish was potentially starting to tell the Titans far too much for his own good.

"Regardless of how long it takes to ease out the kinks in using La'gaan as a weapon," Starro continued. "I will at the very least have my already quite sizable army of abyssals at my beck and call to serve as enforcers and get all the hard work necessary for such a role out of the way while leaving the already existing Atlantean armies as little more than a glorified clean up crew for Trident to use to sweep things up."

"The armies of Atlantis will never bow down to Trident," Terra snarled. "They'd sooner die before they accept scum like him as their liege lord!"

"Oh believe me princess," Starro purred, a smug look in his eye. "They will. After all, regardless of who they're being asked to serve, they'd all be very hard pressed indeed to say no to the associate of mine that I plan to hand over to Trident once he's finished taking over Atlantis for me."

Raven raised her eyebrow. "And who might that associate be?"

"Glad you asked," said Starro. He turned around to face the door to the lab. "You may enter."

"As you wish master."

At the sound of this new voice from outside the lab, the five younger Titans raised their eyebrows. Cyborg, meanwhile, shuddered. For some odd reason, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with how the voice seemed to have more than a slight resemblance to his own.

The door opened, and a figure that looked considerably more human like then the rest of Starro's followers present in the lab entered, slowly making his way into the light of the area where Starro and the abyssals were gathered, his glowing purple eyes the only feature that the Titans could clearly see. The instant the figure in question had come into the light and allowed the Titans to get a good look at him, Robin and Terra's eyes widened, and their jaws dropped open in stunned silence.

"What the?" said the boy wonder.

"How?" Terra gasped.

"You know him?" Cyborg asked.

"That's Kaldur," Terra responded.

"Black Manta's kid?" Beast Boy yelled incredulously.

"Friends," said Starfire. "I thought friend Aqualad said this Kaldur friend of his was dead."

"As a matter of fact, he was."

The Titans redirected their attention back to Starro, who now looked even more smug then before. "But as it so happened, a small contingent of abyssals were present in Atlantis at the time of Trident's rebellion five years ago. And through sheer luck on their part, they were able to serve witness to Kaldur's death and cast the appropriate spells in time to literally catch his soul and seal it into a specially designed gem stone before it could successfully enter the veil and start making its way to the afterlife. Once I joined forces with them and became aware of them having that soul in their possession, it didn't take very long at all for me to figure out a way they could put it to good use.

"First I had them cast a spell that allowed them to teleport his corpse out of its grave and into their grasp. From there, I had them place the soul back into the corpse while simultaneously casting the appropriate spells needed to restore the corpse back to its original state from before Kaldur's death and effectively bring him back to life. And with the state of turmoil his mind was in immediately after he'd been fully resurrected, having him subsequently placed under my control proved rather insultingly easy."

"And you plan to place him under Trident's care?"

Terra shook her head side to side. "There's no way that will work. Even if Trident doesn't just up and kill him all over again, Poseidonis alone is way too far out of range for you to keep him under your thrall if you plan to stay here in these caverns!"

"That would be true, if my mind control powers alone were what I was using. But fortunately, my followers set up a little failsafe to bypass that little problem."

Starro gestured towards Kaldur, and the Titans looked at the formerly dead friend of Aqualad's. They noticed what appeared to be a large purple star tattooed upon his chest that was glowing with the same unnerving purple light as his eyes.

"This rune my followers painted on his chest is connected through sympathetic magic directly to the talisman boosting my power. As long as that rune remains intact, he will remain indefinitely under my control without my even needing to touch him or concentrate on his mind. So as you can probably now guess, I have this matter quite under my control."

The alien starfish nodded his head. "Well, now that I've gotten that rather staggering amount of exposition out of the way, it's probably about high time I finally let you know just what I plan to do with you now that I have you under my custody."

The six Titans were instantly on guard.

"You gonna kill us?" Cyborg asked.

"Should have done that much earlier if that's what you're going to do," Raven growled.

"Trident did make it clear before he left to start his business at Atlantis that he wanted me to have you all killed in the event that you made it to my stronghold alive after his efforts to prevent you from making it to Atlantis on time to stop him from initiating his war. But fortunately for you lot, my followers and I have something else in mind."

The alien starfish clasped the tips of his arms together, his eye agleam with glee as he chuckled softly to himself. "An interesting thing I should mention about the transmogrification process all the abyssals go through. Turns out, they all keep whatever powers and abilities they had before the transformation even after they've been completely transformed. And even the ones that end up becoming vicious animals as a result of being unwillingly transformed into abyssals manage to maintain just enough small pieces of their minds and personalities to avoid being completely uncontrollable mindless monsters. That in mind."

He gestured towards the ray gun-like device. At this point, the Titans could tell from one look at his eye that, if he had a mouth, he would now have a maniacal grin on his face. It took all of five seconds afterward for the Titans to realize what he was likely implying, and their eyes widened in horror.

"You're not. . ." Terra managed to say.

"Oh yes," Starro responded. "My followers and I all agreed." He pointed at Robin. "That with your natural skill and experience in combat and leadership." He pointed at Cyborg. "Your technology." He gestured to indicate the other four Titans. "And all of your powers, you all would be far more useful to me as abyssals in my army then you'd be if you were dead like Trident wants you to be."

For a few seconds, Starro's maniacal look of triumph remained on his face as he let the six Titans mentally squirm. But then his eye narrowed into a clear look of annoyance. "But fortunately for you six, your recruitment will have to wait for just a tiny little bit longer. For as it so happens, the potion converter suffers from a rather annoying design flaw." He turned his head to face the blue scaled acolyte, glare still on his face. "One that I was led to believe had been fixed, Akmor?"

Omoros and the other four acolytes all directed annoyed glares of their own towards their blue scaled comrade, who grimaced, and raised his hand with a sheepish look on his face. "My apologies master."

Starro rolled his eye, and redirected his gaze back to the Titans. "Specifically, with each use, the potion converter has to spend exactly 13 hours recharging before it can be used again. And as it so happens, it was just recently used last night at around 10:00 pm. So with the current time being," he directed his gaze towards a nearby water clock lying on the floor nearby the area were Cyborg was positioned, "ah, exactly 10:00 am., you have an entire hour left to get your affairs in order before you become abyssals and join my cause."

The five founding Titans all glared at Starro, silent snarls on their faces. Terra, however, blanched, a wide eyed look of horror on her face. "Last night," she managed to say in a just barely audible tone. She looked back at Starro. "Where's Garth?"

The founding Titans instantly took on shocked looks of their own, only now remembering once more that they still hadn't been made aware of just what had happened to Aqualad. 12 of the abyssals also seemed to let out a silent 'oh' of realization in unison upon realizing this detail. Starro, meanwhile, briefly looked confused, only for his eye to brighten as he too eventually realized what Terra was talking about.

"Oh right," he said. "Garth Vinseto? Zath's nephew? Former heir of Shayeris? Ward of the royal family of Poseidonis? One of King Orrin's former proteges? _That_ Garth?"

"Yes," Terra growled, the word practically oozing with venom. She leaned forward as far as her restraints would allow, furious snarl on her face. "What have you done with him?!"

Starro focused his gaze further on Terra, a seemingly curious look present in his eye. His eye briefly glowed purple, as if he were perhaps trying to read Terra's mind or place her under his control. Then his eye returned to its original color, and he nodded his head, seemingly looking rather impressed. "Well I'll be," he said. "He certainly wasn't kidding."

The Titans had just enough time to raise their eyebrows in confusion before Starro directed a side glance towards the somewhat unresponsive black scaled abyssal crouching to the left of the machine he'd been encased in, seemingly winced, and then gave it a pat on the head with his right arm. "It appears my men and I owe you an apology Garth," he then said as he continued patting the abyssal on the head, the abyssal in question hissing and snarling irritably. "Turns out, you were telling the truth. She indeed does return your love as you claimed last night. And she quite clearly loves you just as much as you love her. My apologies for doubting you." The abyssal snarled once more, its dark purple eyes narrowed in irritation.

Terra blanched, her blue eyes widened in shock. "Garth?"

"Dude!" Beast Boy shrieked.

The other Titans were similarly stunned by the revelation of what had apparently happened to Aqualad.

"But fear not," Starro continued. "In about an hour, we'll be able to recruit her and the rest of your friends onto our cause, and the two of you will once again be able to spend the rest of your lives together . . . but as abyssals."

Robin growled, and thrusted himself forward as far as his restraints would allow. "You'll never get away with this Starro! We will get out of this! And once we do, you're going down!"

"You'd certainly put up a good fight if you managed to escape from this lab, I'm sure. But ultimately, victory just simply wouldn't be in the cards for you. Even if you didn't get successfully taken down by Kaldur, La'gaan, or any of the abyssals, there is one other combat based trick naturally occurring in my species up my sleeve that could yet do the job instead. And even if _that_ isn't enough to take you down, you'd almost certainly be defeated for sure in the event that I were to directly face you in battle myself."

"And what makes you say that Patrick?" Cyborg asked mockingly.

Starro's eye narrowed into a withering glare as he looked at Cyborg. "The reference you've just made at my expense is neither lost on me, nor something that I find at all amusing." He shook his head. "But to answer your question, you may have perhaps failed to notice that the talisman I have that has boosted my mind control powers isn't the only talisman I have on me." He gestured towards where the talisman was located. Sure enough, the Titans could now see a second talisman, this one colored a bright green, positioned right above the one he'd showed them before.

"This other talisman I have? It's designed to channel a rather handy defensive charm. Specifically, as long as I keep this talisman on me and the artifact providing it with the necessary power remains intact, I shall only ever be capable of being harmed by beings or creatures that I consider friends or allies. Simply put, you lot would need to have some insanely good luck on your side in order to have even the slightest hope of defeating me at this point."

He glanced over at Omoros, who nodded, and made a signal to the other 12 abyssals in the area. 11 of them nodded, and the transmogrified Aqualad snarled. Starro looked back at the Titans. "My associates and I shall leave you for now and allow you the chance to get your affairs in order. Expect us to be back about an hour from now to have you recruited."

He raised his left arm as if in a respectful farewell salute. "Farewell Titans, it has been a pleasure to meet and speak with you at least this once before you become abyssals." He then looked at Robin. "Though from what I managed to see when I looked through _your_ mind, I will say this. Considering what you're supposed to have in store for you early next year, one could very well argue that I'm actually doing you a favor."

Robin's masked eyes narrowed dangerously, _not_ at all happy to have been reminded once more of his deal and the nightmarish fallout currently expected to unfold against him the very next year as a result.

"And while I'm at it," said Starro. "Once I finally make my second attempt at subjugating the surface world, I'll gladly make sure to tell your mentor you said hello."

Robin's fists clenched, and it took all his willpower not to explode in rage.

Starro chuckled, and then looked to his associates. "Come. Let us be gone from this lab. I see no need for us to stick around and lazily wait when there's plenty of stuff we can still take care of while we're waiting for the potion converter to recharge." Kaldur and the 11 high ranking abyssals turned around and started making their way out of the lab, Kaldur seemingly using some sort of spell to trigger the door into opening, and the two lower ranking abyssals began to turn the machine Starro was standing upon around so that they could push it out of the lab.

"Why must you do this?"

At the sound of Starfire's question, the transformed Aqualad and red scaled lower ranking abyssal paused in their movements just as they were about to start pushing Starro and the machine he was in out of the lab. Starro seemed to exhale in irritation. "Did I not make myself clear?"

"You were the clear as a crystal," Starfire responded. "But even so, what you have planned. Is it truly something you absolutely have to do?"

Starro growled irritably, and then turned around to face Starfire. "None of this would be necessary if the League had kept their word all those years ago and gotten me home! And you know what?! If, by some impossible miracle, I _were_ to end up finally back on my home planet at any point in the near future, I would be _more_ than happy to stay there and leave this planet be! But since it has become quite clear long ago that I just simply can't ever get back to my old home, I have no other choice but to make this planet my new home instead! And I'm sorry you don't like what I plan to do to fulfill that goal, but what I have planned is quite simply the only way I can make this planet a legitimately safe new home for me!"

"Can't?" Raven asked. "Or won't?"

"Please," said Starfire. "Surely it is not truly impossible for you to return to your old home?"

For what seemed like an eternity, the two aliens stared each other in the eyes. Then, right as everyone else in the room was starting to get nervous over just how Starro would react, the alien starfish seemed to hang his head, and then sighed resignedly. "I once believed just as strongly as you do," Starro said. He lifted his head. "That there was in fact still hope for me to somehow, someday, return to my home planet. Twice in fact." He shook his head. "The first time that hope got shattered, I will freely admit, was almost entirely my own fault. But the second time?"

Starro looked back at Starfire, a weary look in his eye. "Without the power boosting amulet the abyssals gave me, others of my kind are the only beings whose minds I can look into without my touching them or similarly subjecting them to my mind control being required. And on my planet, my kind always allow their every thought to be broadcast clear as day without ever hiding a thing. Who we could trust? Who we should fear? Who was good? Who was evil? It was always carved in stone and broadcast to us every second of every day of every year. Here? Everyone on this planet, I could never tell for sure what they were thinking, whether I could trust them, anything about them. But I tried to let down my walls, and I allowed myself to trust a few inhabitants of this planet that I thought, just maybe, I could honestly trust despite my inability to telepathically read them like I could with my own kind. That maybe, oh just maybe, they would be my key to returning home."

He hung his head once more. "But in the end, I turned out to be wrong, and my hopes were once again shattered. And now, with how many years its been since I was first defeated in combat by the same 7 people I'd once so genuinely trusted to help me, not to mention just how badly I was affected by their apparently betraying me at all by leaving me with those scientists and not doing anything to ensure that their promise was fulfilled despite what the scientists chose to do instead, I have long since vowed to never again allow myself to hope for the possibility of returning to my original home planet becoming a reality, let alone trust any native of this planet more than absolutely necessary. Twice I held onto such hopes, and twice those hopes have been shattered. At this point, if I were to hold onto that same hope a 3rd time, only to have it crushed just like the last two times, the pain would just simply be too much for me to bear. And as strong as my desire to somehow impossibly return to my old home planet is, my desire to live is far stronger."

The alien starfish sighed, shook his head side to side with his eyes closed, and then turned his back to the Titans, his head hanging. "Once again," he stated somberly. "Farewell Titans."

Kaldur and the abyssals resumed their departure from the lab, the transformed Aqualad and the red scaled lower ranking abyssal similarly resuming their work at pushing Starro and the machine he was standing in out of the lab. Within a few minutes, both the still snarling and hissing La'gaan and the six captive Titans were the only figures left in the lab, and the door slammed shut, the star rune glowing blue again to indicate that it was locked once more.

 **And there you have it everyone! Another chapter done! I _really_ hope you enjoy this chapter (especially now that you finally know the answers to so many questions)! I especially hope you like who the mysterious villain directly allied with Trident has turned out to be! Yep. That's right! It's Starro the conqueror! Previously seen in the CN DCAU (specifically in Batman Beyond and Superman: The Animated Series), Young Justice (as a frozen specimen and later biologically-based mind control program in Season 1 and an 'alive and in the flesh' would be invader of Earth in Season 3), and Batman: The Brave and the Bold, he has now made his glorious debut in my continuation of Teen Titans. Now in the comics (and in Brave and the Bold and Young Justice Outsiders), he is an unrepentant galactic conqueror (although he did eventually manage in the comics in somewhat recent years to die a hero working alongside various beings with telepathic abilities gathered together by Brainiac to defend the Earth against a powerful threat that their powers were needed to defeat). But as you can see for this fanfiction, I have chosen to instead draw upon the more sympathetic portrayal he was given in Batman Beyond (where he was merely an alien abduction victim who just wanted to go home and eventually chose to try to invade Earth to act out against his apparent inability to ever leave his new surroundings after getting tired of waiting and losing hope of returning to his original world). He was also, as far as I can tell from my comic book research, the villain that the founding members of the Justice League first teamed up to defeat (and subsequently formed the Justice League as a result of the experience). And as a more minor note, his line about ****'[taking] over the entirety of New York City just by lying down'** **? He once actually _DID_ do exactly that in the comics! Yeah, his size tended to vary between appearances in the comics. I mean, in some appearances, he was small enough to latch onto a person's face. Other times he was a giant (with one notable incident being when he was at one point big enough to cover the entirety of NYC by lying down on it). All that aside, I am very proud to have finally gotten to the point of giving him a proper introduction in this fic, and I do hope that I did a good job with both writing him in general and with properly incorporating him within the world/history/canon of my interpretation of the DCTTAU. And feel free to look him up. He is pretty cool (though fair warning, some of the images you'll find of him on an image search will show that I wasn't kidding about his eye when I wrote its description. Seriously, with some of the images I've found of him on google, that eye is pure NIGHTMARE FUEL!). And on another note, the abyssals. Crazily enough, these guys I actually made up myself! Pretty cool huh? In fact, it wasn't until I did the necessary research on Garth himself and actually learned enough about his backstory to be aware of Zath that I had them slightly altered from their original origins (which are kind of generic in hindsight) to be affiliated with Zath (a much more organic way to seamlessly incorporate these monsters into the DCTTAU in my opinion). After all, Zath HAD to have had at least _some_ people in Atlantis that shared his point of view, right? And all that in mind, hooboy! Look at what's happened to Garth! And let's not forget about Kaldur and La'gaan either! Or about what Starro now plans to do to Terra and the founding titans! All in all, things are looking pretty crazy intense around here! All in all, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and leave plenty of feedback (remember, an exact minimum (and I mean MINIMUM) amount of one review is required for this new chapter before I allow the next one to be posted; and please feel free to be as detailed or as concise as you want).**

 **Coming up Next: The captured titans manage to break free from the lab smoothly enough. But just how long will it take before the inevitable epic battles to come finally start unfolding? Find out next time, on The Enemy Below. ^_^**


	14. Breaking Free

**Hi everyone! Hope you're ready for some more awesome Teen Titans stuff from me, because here's a new chapter! In this new chapter, the Titans manage to successfully escape from the lab. But just how long will they have to wait before they start fighting the inevitable kickass battles against Starro and his forces? Let's find out everyone! Here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, let me just remind you all that I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else DC-based (though I do own the abyssals).** ** _Now_** **, on with the fic!**

 **Chapter 13:**

 **Breaking Free**

"This stinks," said Terra.

"Tell me about it," Raven agreed.

Half an hour had now passed since Starro and his followers departed the lab. And so far, the Titans were still firmly attached to the lab tables. La'gaan, meanwhile, had fallen back to sleep, and was currently slumped over with the chains around his wrists holding him upright in his slumber as he snored away. The half demon sorceress directed a glare at the snoring Atlantean. "If it weren't for this headband, we'd already be out of here," she growled.

"I'll say."

Cyborg glowered at his own restraints. "I mean good grief, even _I_ can't get out of this. Who the heck did Mr. Starfish design these to hold?"

"Probably La'gaan."

Robin directed a glance towards La'gaan, his head nodding in grudging respect. "I remember from the few times I met him before now that La'gaan had the power to inflate himself like a pufferfish, just like Tramm to. And when he was inflated, he had impressively high strength."

"How strong are we talking here?"

"Strong enough that if _he_ couldn't break out of these restraints, you're not breaking out of them through sheer force either."

Cyborg frowned, and then rolled his human eye immediately after hearing Robin's response. "Well ok, duh; obviously."

"Never mind that," said Terra. "An even bigger problem right now? Just how are we going to defeat Starro once we _have_ managed to get out of here? I mean, if what he says is true about that defense talisman he has, the best option for us would be to somehow trick one of his followers into harming him. And I highly doubt he'll be stupid enough to keep any of his followers close enough to him for that to happen in the event of a battle. And whatever he was talking about that got him defeated last time probably won't work on him this time as long as he's got that charm on him either."

"How _was_ he defeated that time?" Cyborg asked, clearly curious. He looked over to Robin. "I'm guessing Batman told you?"

The boy wonder nodded. "Electricity. Batman said that, according to what Hal Jordan told him at the time after consulting the archives of the Guardians of the Universe, Starro's species is designed to always store water inside them for the sake of keeping themselves wet long enough to survive their planet's dry seasons. Thanks to that, and the way their skin is designed, they are extremely susceptible to electricity. And not only does it cause them pain, but it also rapidly drains their energy."

"Well there's something I have in common with his kind," Raven grudgingly admitted.

"I'm surprised it would have taken the League that long to find that out, or even for electricity to end up proving necessary."

"What do you mean?"

Cyborg shook his head side to side in response to Starfire's question. "I mean, yes, Starro's mind control is pretty darned powerful. The fact he almost got BB to slit his own throat saw to that. But, correct me if I'm wrong, back then he'd have had to touch the League members in order for them to be under his control. And with that limitation, plus his size, just how exactly _was_ he able to fight the League as long as he did before he got electrocuted?"

"Well for one thing, he can probably clone himself."

At the sound of this, all the other Titans looked over at Beast Boy, who had kept surprisingly quiet up till this moment. "Clone himself?" Cyborg asked.

"Yeah dude," Beast Boy responded. "Clone himself. I mean, come on, he is basically a starfish."

The other Titans remained confused, except for Robin who seemed quite pleased that Beast Boy was now partially answering Cyborg's earlier question for him. Beast Boy rolled his eyes, grumbling irritably. "You know how starfish can regenerate their limbs? Well there are also starfish that can regenerate full body duplicates of themselves. I mean, say you cut one such starfish in half. The two halves would both generate into two complete starfish. And with Starro being a starfish-like alien, it would only make sense for him to have a similar power."

Cyborg and the girl Titans all looked to Robin, who nodded his head. "Beast Boy is correct. Starro can indeed clone himself. More likely than not, this power was likely the 'other trick' he mentioned having up his sleeve for us to worry about if Kaldur, La'gaan, or the abyssals don't manage to take us down after we escape from this lab."

"Well I'll admit," said Terra. "I can certainly see how being able to duplicate himself like that could allow him to make defeating him pretty difficult for the League, especially considering that time they fought was when the League still largely only consisted of the 7 founders."

"Indeed," Robin agreed. "And that's not the only power he has that allowed him to stand a fighting chance against the League either. You remember how he basically said that he was absorbing energy from Superman while mind controlling him? The energy he was absorbing wasn't necessarily energy he absolutely needed to survive. Rather, it was strictly surplus energy that he could later channel to enhance his power."

"You mean like enhance his strength?" Cyborg asked.

"In a way, yes."

Starfire raised her eyebrow in confusion at what her boyfriend had just said. "What do you mean?"

Robin had just opened his mouth to answer when Beast Boy let out a disgruntled snarl, and all the other Titans turned their heads in time to see him grimace as if in a minor bit of pain. "Good grief," the changeling grumbled.

Raven raised her eyebrow. "Dare I ask what you are doing?"

Beast Boy turned his head to face Raven, chuckling sheepishly in the process. "Oh, uh, sorry about that. Just uh, working on improving my skills at picking locks." He lifted his right hand just enough for Raven and the other Titans to catch a glimpse of that hand's claws sticking out of the tips of his right glove.

Terra's eyes widened. "Your claws," she said. "But how? The headband should have. . ."

"Remember how I was the unlucky guinea pig Starro chose to use for his mind control powers demonstration?" Beast Boy gestured towards his power inhibiting headband. "This thing was still on my head the entire time. And since he was able to allow me to extend my claws for that demonstration with the headband still on me, then whoever set this headband up for me didn't design it to account for them." He directed a glare towards the restraint around his right wrist. "I've since spent the last few minutes trying to use them as a lockpick."

"Is that why you were so quiet earlier before you brought up the cloning matter?" Cyborg asked.

"Yep, sure was." Beast Boy nodded his head. "I was trying to keep myself focused."

Robin leaned his head towards Beast Boy, clearly interested in the shapeshifter's attempt at escape. "About how much progress would you say you've made?"

"Well I have managed to get a claw into the lock," Beast Boy responded, jiggling the claw in question as best as he could in his continued effort to get the restraint around his right wrist to open up. "If I'm lucky, I might be able to get this open in about another couple minutes or so?"

"Well we appear to have about 25 minutes left," Cyborg said as he directed a quick glance at the water clock nearby his position. "So I hope those 'couple minutes' you still need right now don't take too long."

"I understand dude," said Beast Boy as he continued to jiggle around the claw he'd gotten within the lock he was trying to pick. "And believe me, I'm going as fast as I can." He briefly grimaced again as he accidentally gave himself another slight nick from one of the claws he didn't have within the lock. "Or at least as fast as I can go without outright slicing off my hand." He directed a withering glare towards his right hand. "Last thing I'll need is to subject myself to another starfish form induced healing."

Raven raised her eyebrow. "Another one?"

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"Time and place, time and place," Beast Boy grunted, once again getting to work on his efforts at picking the lock around his right hand's restraint. Seconds later, the sound of light metallic creaking were heard from near the restraint in question.

"You're doing great BB," said Terra.

"Keep it up man," said Cyborg. He nodded his head. "Sounds to me like you're getting there."

"Almost," Beast Boy hissed. "Almost."

The lock snapped open, and so did the restraint it was attached to. "Got it!"

"Glorious," said Starfire.

"Good work Beast Boy," Robin agreed.

"Thanks dudes. Now I just need to get this off."

With his newly freed right arm, Beast Boy reached up to his head and removed the headband, which he tossed to the floor. The device made a slight 'clang' as it hit the floor.

"Watch the noise," said Terra when she heard La'gaan briefly let out an alerted grunt in his slumber. "We can't have him waking up and sounding the alarm right now."

"My bad."

Beast Boy took a deep breath, exhaled, and then concentrated as hard as he could. Seconds later, he successfully morphed into an octopus. He reached towards Raven with one of his five free tentacles. The sorceress braced herself as the changeling proceeded to grab onto her inhibitor headband and remove it from her head. He lightly placed it on the floor next to his own discarded inhibitor, and then reverted back to human form. "Alright Rae. You can do your thing now."

"Thank you." Raven took a deep breath, and then exhaled, her eyes still closed from when she'd braced herself from getting touched by Beast Boy's octopus form. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

At the sound of her whispered incantation, Raven's restraints, plus all of her friends', glowed with black energy, and then snapped open. All six Titans stepped down from their tables in unison, with Terra, Starfire, and Cyborg removing their inhibitor headbands at the same time.

"Oh man," Cyborg said as he flexed his wrists to restore whatever semblance of feeling his mechanical state would allow now that he was free. "Feeling better already."

"Indeed," Starfire agreed, briefly summoning a star bolt around her right wrist. "Thank you friends."

"No problem dude."

"What he said."

Robin, meanwhile, made his way straight over to where his belt and lockpicks were located. He wasted no time in clasping his belt back around his waist and slipping all his lockpicks back into his gloves. "Alright team, now that we're free, let's go over how best to go about this situation."

The other Titans stood at attention. "We're listening," said Terra.

"Yes Robin," Starfire agreed. "What friend Terra said."

Robin rammed his right fist into his left palm. "Ok. From what Starro said, once he finds out about our escape, he'll most likely hole himself up somewhere and have all his abyssal allies do the heavy lifting." The boy wonder directed a slight glare in the direction of the sleeping La'gaan. "We should also be ready for the possibility of Starro choosing to send Kaldur and La'gaan after us as well."

"Don't forget Starro clones."

Beast Boy nodded his head after saying this. "He'll probably send a bunch of his clones after us as well."

"Also true," Robin admitted.

"What about Garth?"

The founding Titans all looked at Terra, who now had a concerned look on her face. "What do we do if we end up fighting him?"

The founders thought to themselves, uncertain what to say. The silence dragged on, with Terra becoming increasingly nervous as she found herself just how very likely it was starting to seem as if Aqualad would be stuck as an abyssal and that she and the Titans would have no choice but to take him down.

Then Starfire happened to look to her left, and her eyes widened at the sight of a familiar shelf of yellow potions. "Friends, over there!"

The other Titans looked at Starfire, who pointed in the direction of the yellow potions. "Did Starro not mention these potions being used to break spells?"

"Oh yeah, that's right," said Cyborg. "He called it charm dispelling elixir, and he said that he and the abyssals have been using it on Tramm's brother to ensure that he doesn't become too aggressive for them to control."

Raven nodded her head in agreement as she too started to remember Starro mentioning this detail. "We could theoretically change Aqualad back with the right dosage of that potion." She looked at Terra. "Terra, you said that Aqualad's been teaching you lessons on Atlantean culture. Has he thought you anything involving Atlantean magic or potions that could be helpful right now?"

Terra thought to herself, trying her best to stay calm. "Well, I think I vaguely remember him talking about something like this at some point."

"Can you remember anything else about that?" Robin asked.

"If I remember correctly," Terra began, "I'm pretty sure he said that, when applying potions through injections . . . um. . ." She briefly looked around, and her eyes widened in a 'eureka' fashion at the sight of an appropriately sized syringe conveniently lying around on the same table where Robin's belt and lockpicks had been located. She snatched it up and presented it to the other Titans. "See this syringe here? If I remember correctly, the dosage we'll need to get the desired effect should be enough to fill up this entire syringe."

Beast Boy raised his eyebrow. "Should be?"

"What do you mean 'should be'?" Cyborg asked.

"Well from what I remember," Terra explained, "the majority of Atlantean spells capable of being undone with this elixir only need a single full dosage of the potion to be completely dispelled. However, there are some particularly rare and high level spells that would require _two_ full dosages of the elixir, plus an incredibly miniscule number of even higher level spells that would need _three_. And if three dosages of this elixir isn't enough? Then that means either the spell isn't designed to be broken in the first place, you'll need the original spellcaster or a similarly highly powerful mage to break it, or you'll just have to put the victim at increasingly high risk of death through continuing to give more dosages of the elixir."

The geomancer suddenly winced. "And as I literally just now remembered, determining the correct dosage tends to be even more complicated if trying to use this elixir to undo the effects of a potion instead of a spell. And not only that, but spells and potions that involve transfiguration? There is a time limit for how long this elixir will work on the victim."

"How much time?" Robin asked.

"According to what Garth told me, three full days." Terra nodded her head. It seemed she was particularly confident that she'd remembered this particular bit of information correctly. "And since Garth was first transmogrified last night, we still should have plenty of time to change him back."

"What happens if we don't get him changed back in time?" Starfire asked.

"If he'd been transmogrified through means of a spell," Terra explained, "then we'd just have to find a spellcaster sufficiently powerful enough to break it. But since a potion was responsible." She shook her head side to side, her eyes closed. "To put it simply, I'd rather not find out."

"In that case."

Robin looked around, his eyes narrowing at the sight of a large collection of syringes located on another lab table. He went straight to that table and started examining the syringes. "Terra," he stated, his left hand extended towards the geomancer. "Can I borrow that syringe you're holding?"

Terra handed Robin the syringe, and the boy wonder proceeded to use it compare the sizes of the various other syringes lying around on the table in front of him. Once he'd successfully found five other syringes that were the exact same size as the one Terra had been holding, he walked back over to his teammates and started handing each of them a syringe.

"Let's get these all filled up. Depending on how things unfold, Aqualad could end up encountering either one of us, and it might be wise for each of us to have a syringe full of that elixir."

"Good idea," Terra agreed.

As one, the six Titans made their way over to the shelf with the vials filled with the yellow potion. They'd successfully filled up all six of the syringes when Beast Boy turned his head to look behind him towards the miraculously still sleeping La'gaan. "Um, dudes?" The other Titans looked at him, and he pointed at the green skinned humanoid fish. "Do you think we could try using this potion on Tramm's brother right now?"

The Titans all looked to Terra, who thought her himself. "Honestly? I don't know," the geomancer admitted. "I mean, part of me would certainly like to try right now. But at the same time." She shook her head. "Now might not be the best time to try experimenting with this stuff. For one thing, we still don't know for certain that a single of the dosages we have right now is even the correct amount to use for Aqualad, let alone for La'gaan. And speaking of Aqualad." He lifted the syringe he was holding up to his eyes. "Selfish as this may sound; right now, I think we'd best save the syringes we currently have prepared for Aqualad; for now at least. And preparing a few extra syringes right now might not be the best way for us to use our time at the moment."

"Terra's right."

Robin nodded his head. "And speaking of time." He pointed at La'gaan. "If we did try to use the elixir on La'gaan right now, we could very likely end up accidentally waking him up. And if he wakes up, he'll almost certainly end up alerting the enemy. And right now, I'd rather not risk the enemy being made aware of our escape any earlier then they need to be." He gestured to indicate the entire lab. "I mean, color me paranoid, but this lab doesn't really seem to be entirely the most ideal place for us to do battle to me."

The other Titans soon found themselves reluctantly agreeing with their fearless leader. "Don't get me wrong," said the young caped crusader. "I'm all for getting La'gaan free from that mind altering spell. But right now, I think it would be better for us to wait till later. I mean, considering how we've currently got. . ."

He looked at the water clock. "About a quarter of an hour before Starro and his goons come back here to transmogrify us, the best way we could use that time right now is to see if there's any way we can get the coming confrontations set in our favor while we're still under the radar."

"I'll admit, I don't really like this," Cyborg admitted. "But even I have to admit I'd probably be a lot more comfortable with worrying about getting Tramm's brother freed from that spell he's under after we've already taken out a sizable bunch of that sociopathic starfish's cronies first. Heck, I'd be just as willing to try to break that spell on him while he himself is in the midst of battling us."

"Could we at least try to see if Raven could break the spell on him?"

The other Titans all looked at Beast Boy. "I mean, hey," said the changeling. "If she is, that would certainly mean we wouldn't have to risk wasting a chance at helping Aqualad. And besides, I'm sure she'd be able to potentially do her work and break the spell on him without waking him up."

"Surely it could be worth the try?" Starfire asked.

"Alright," Robin stated. "I'll allow Raven to try that out. But after that, we need to get out of this lab A.S.A.P."

"No need to tell me twice," Raven droned. She extended her now glowing left hand towards La'gaan, her eyes also glowing as she gazed at the sleeping Atlantean. After about a minute, her eyes and hand stopped glowing, and she shook her head.

"No good," said the sorceress. "Whoever cast that spell on him obviously must have considered this possibility."

"So you can't break the spell?" Starfire asked dejectedly.

"Technically, I _can_. But only if he's awake. Right now, there are some magical safeguards that have been placed in his mind designed to prevent me from breaking the spell while he's sleeping."

"Well that certainly complicates things," said Cyborg.

Terra scoffed. "Oh, you think?"

"I guess we'll just have to wait then," Beast Boy stated reluctantly.

Robin nodded his head, and then turned to face the lab's exit, syringe gripped tight in his right hand. "Come on team," he said. "Let's get moving."

The Titans all rushed over to the door, only to come to a stop when it soon became clear that they didn't entirely know how they were supposed to get it to open. "Um," Beast Boy thought to himself. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Kaldur use some sort of spell to open this when he and the other bad guys left?"

Raven's eyes widened upon hearing this. The changeling had just now unwittingly given her an idea. "Hold on a second."

The half demoness made her way straight to the door, the other Titans watching her in interest as she proceeded to place her hand up against the star-shaped rune. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," she whispered. Her hand glowed with black energy as she poured her magic into the door. Seconds later, much to all the Titans' pleasant surprise, the rune glowed with its distinctive blue light, and then the door opened, leaving the way clear for the teenage heroes to exit the lab.

"Alright then," said Beast Boy. He turned to face Raven, giving her a thumbs up in the process. "Good on you Rae."

"It's Raven," the sorceress grumbled.

"Less banter, more exiting the lab," said Terra.

The chromatically challenged Titans directed a brief glare at Terra, but otherwise didn't respond.

As one, the Titans all rushed out of the lab. By the time the door to the lab finally closed, the Titans had already entered the comparatively darker segment of the tunnel that led to the lab. Unfortunately, this naturally left them unaware of how the booming noise the door made upon fully closing caused La'gaan to snort abruptly in his sleep as if suddenly alert.

For several minutes, the bewitched Atlantean growled and snarled, lightly squirming around as if struggling between waking up or lulling himself back to sleep. Then, with an irritated hissing noise, La'gaan's eyes snapped open, his head similarly snapping into an upright position. He looked to his left, his eyes narrowing and a snarl forming on his mouth at the sight of the six empty lab tables. He started growling, each growl sounding subsequently angrier and louder. Then he let out a savage roar.

. . . . .

The Titans kept themselves crouched within the darkness at the tunnel's entrance, eyes narrowed as they watched the six abyssal guards positioned directly inside the intersection. All six of them were armed with a different weapon. Beast Boy looked to Robin. "What's the plan now? Do we want to try to sneak past these guys? Or fight them?"

Robin thought to himself, weighing his options as best as he could.

The silence was abruptly shattered by an animalistic roar further down the tunnel behind the Titans, and the six teenage heroes' eyes widened. Then Robin winced, gritting his teeth in the process. "Time's up," he thought to himself.

Sure enough, the six guards, set on edge by the sound of La'gaan's roar, turned around to face the laboratory tunnel just in time to catch sight of the six escaped prisoners. At the sight of the wide eyed look on the guards' faces, the Titans mentally steeled themselves for battle. "Never mind," said Beast Boy. "Looks like we're gonna fight them."

A yellow scaled guard pointed his right finger at the Titans, an accusatory look now on his face while his left hand clenched tightly around a large spear. "You!"

In a flash, Starfire fired a jet of star bolt energy at the guard, sending him pounding against a wall. The yellow guard slid to the floor, completely out cold. The other guards and Titans were all quick to react.

A green scaled guard bent his knees and snarled, the light gleaming off the tips of the unnerving looking silver combat spikes that had been placed over his clawed fingernails. Beast Boy turned into a tiger and lunged at the guard with a roar, plowing into the green scaled would be attacker. A purple scaled guard hissed, and pointed an already armed crossbow at Beast Boy, only to then be struck down by a bolt of black lightning Raven summoned. A blue scaled guard growled, lifting an intimidating battle ax into position, and was summarily blasted against a wall by a shot from Cyborg's sonic cannon. A black scaled guard had just enough time to aim what looked like some sort of laser blaster at the Titans before he was smashed between two slabs of stone that suddenly rose from the ground at his sides.

The last guard, a reddish brown scaled figure, was just about to draw out his sword when he saw Robin throw a trio of explosive disks at him. The young guard leaped aside just in time to avoid getting caught in the blast. The guard drew out his sword immediately after landing, and then lunged at Robin. The boy wonder just barely had enough time to draw out his bo staff in time to block the blow . . . only for the block to result in the staff getting sliced in half. Mentally cursing, Robin hurriedly summoned his own sword just in time to parry a 2nd blow from the red guard's sword.

The guard narrowed his eyes, his sword still interlocked with Robin's. "Nice reflexes," he snarled.

Robin glared at the guard. "Funny," he stated bluntly. "I could say the thing about you."

The guard growled, and the two proceeded to exchange several sword blows, briefly pausing in sword strikes when the guard attempted to smack Robin with a swing of his tail, only for the boy wonder to just as swiftly duck under the attack. Both warriors immediately resumed their sword fight, snarling wordlessly.

"I knew something like this would happen," the guard hissed after exchanging several more blows. "I kept telling Omoros and the rest of my superiors that we should have killed you the instant you showed up on our doorstep alive, just like the Tritonian wanted. But _no_ , the star wanted you all alive. Well I can't say I didn't warn them."

"Yeah?" Robin asked. "Well boohoo for you. I'm glad they didn't listen."

The guard scoffed. "Of course you are."

They exchanged a few more blows.

"Well regardless, the star will just have to be content with only having Zath's brat of a nephew amongst our cause," the guard snarled, pressing his sword against Robin's in a battle for dominance. "Because right now, I don't care what my superiors say, I _will_ kill you and the rest of your friends if I get the chance!"

The guard was suddenly blasted aside by a burst from Cyborg's sonic cannon. The guard went sprawling, his sword skidding to a stop inside the laboratory tunnel. He shook his head side to side, and leaped back to his feet to hiss at Cyborg, only for his eyes to widen at the sight of Raven sending a burst of shadowy flames his way. The guard just barely managed to avoid this attack, only to similarly find himself just barely able to avoid falling victim to subsequent attacks from Beast Boy and Starfire. He was still panting and gasping from his close escape from Starfire's starbolts when a pillar of stones suddenly erupted from under his feet and pinned him against the ceiling by the stomach.

As the guard squirmed and writhed against the ceiling, Terra, eyes glowing solid gold with a murderous look on her face, caused the top of the pillar to press against the guard's stomach even more. The guard howled in agony at the crushing weight against his stomach. "That's for calling Garth a brat you sick son of a shrimp." She snapped her fingers, causing the entire pillar to burst into dust without warning, leaving the guard to plummet the floor with a thud.

Panting and wheezing, the guard forced himself back to his feet, only to narrow his eyes at the sight of all six Titans now gathered together in front of him. Robin glared, his masked eyes narrowed. "You were saying?"

The guard growled. "You may think you're so tough right now," he spat, his right finger pointing accusingly at the boy wonder. "But you and your vermin friends have won nothing tonight! One way or another, you _will_ go down!"

"Well you're gonna have a Hell of a time trying to back that up," said Cyborg.

"Yeah," Beast Boy chimed in having now shifted back to human form. "Can't you count? There are six of us, and only one of you!"

"Not for long."

The guard clasped his fingers around a conch shaped amulet on a chain around his neck. The amulet glowed. "RED ALERT! RED ALERT! THE PRISONERS HAVE ESCAPED! I REPEAT, THE PRISONERS HAVE . . ."

The guard was hit by a starbolt before he could finish, and he stumbled to the side, hissing in annoyance. Then Beast Boy, now in the form of an elephant, grabbed him by the legs with his trunk, and threw him into the air, where he was caught in midair by Raven, who then used her shadowy energy to levitate him within range of Cyborg, who throttled him in the face with a punch. The guard went flying straight towards Terra, who dealt a flying roundhouse kick to the face that sent the guard bouncing across the floor before skidding painfully to a stop. The guard hurriedly rushed himself back onto his feet, snarling and hissing incoherently in rage. He had just gotten back to his feet when he heard footsteps come to a stop behind him, and he jumped into position to face that direction . . . just in time for Robin to pound him straight in the lower jaw with a brutal uppercut swing of one of his nunchucks.

The guard tensed up, completely frozen in shock and pain from the blow. He was still trying to process what had just happened when Terra levitated a boulder over his head and slammed it down on him, the rock shattering into pieces from the impact. The guard went staggering backwards, clearly off balance. Robin ran straight up to him, smacking him upside the head with his nunchuck. The guard spun around in three circles, gurgling incoherently in pain as he finally came to a stop. Then his eyes rolled up into his head, and he collapsed on the floor flat on his face.

The Titans all looked at each other, Beast Boy reverting back to human form. "What do we do now?" Terra asked.

Robin had just opened his mouth to speak when the Titans all heard shouting, snarling, and running feet coming from one of the tunnels. Eyes widened, all the Titans looked in the direction the noise was coming from, straight at the tunnel marked with the wave-like engraving.

"Sounds like we're about to have company," said Robin. "A _lot_ of company."

"You can say that again," Cyborg agreed. He directed a brief side glare at Beast Boy. "You just had to say that whole 'six of us, one of him' thing. Didn't you?"

Beast Boy winced, a sheepish look coming on his face. "Heat of the moment. Sorry."

"Never mind that," said Terra. "What do we do now?"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking."

Robin looked to Cyborg. "Cyborg. Can you get a read on the enemy?"

Cyborg activated his scanners, nodding his head seconds later. "Got 'em. There's a lot of them." He pointed at the wave tunnel. "And according to my scanners, they're all coming from that tunnel."

Raven nodded her head in agreement. "I just made psychic contact. They're all coming from the tunnel Beast Boy was exploring. All the other tunnels currently appear to be empty."

"Perhaps now would be a good time to go on the offensive?" Starfire asked.

"Couldn't agree more Star." He looked to the rest of the Titans, drawing his syringe from the lab out of his utility belt. "Does everyone have their syringe?"

The other Titans drew out their own syringes, except for Cyborg, who grimaced. "I think I dropped mine," he said, pointing his finger towards the star tunnel. The other Titans all looked to that tunnel, and winced at the sight of a shattered syringe and yellow liquid all over the floor underneath the remains.

"We'll just have to be extra careful with the syringes we still have," said Raven.

The Titans put away their syringes.

"Alright team," said Robin. "We'll split up in pairs." He pointed at Cyborg. "Cyborg, you're with me." He pointed at Starfire. "Star, you go with Terra." He pointed at Raven. "Raven, you go with Beast Boy."

"Where do we go?" Beast Boy asked.

Robin pointed his finger at the tunnel marked with the clashing sword and trident. "Cyborg and I will take that one. The area it leads to was pretty spacious from what I remember while exploring it. Should be more than enough room for Cyborg and I to put up a good fight in there."

Starfire pointed at the tunnel marked with a lightning bolt engraving. "Terra and I will take that tunnel. The room in that area is designed similarly to our training facilities in the tower gym. That design should compliment mine and Terra's powers perfectly in a fight."

"That leaves this tunnel for me and Beast Boy." Raven pointed at the tunnel marked with an engraving of a cave entrance. "From what I remember of the place at the end of this tunnel, it should be easy for us to find a place to hole up and make a stand. It's rather dark in there, but there may or may not be a way I can light things up."

"Excellent."

Robin pointed his finger in the direction of the tunnel he planned to go through. "Titans, go!"

 **And just like that, another chapter over! Hope you all found it worth the wait, and that you enjoyed this chapter and leave a decent amount of feedback (remember, an exact minimum of one review is required for this chapter before I allow the next one to be posted). That in mind, the next chapter is shaping up to be fairly long, so don't say I didn't warn you when it comes out (and also takes just a tiny bit of extra time to finish and post). All in all, hope you enjoyed this new chapter and are looking forward to what comes next! ^_^**

 **Coming up Next: The time has come for the titans to fight some epic battles against the abyssal army, the six abyssal acolytes, an army of Starro clones, the transmogrified Garth, the brainwashed Kaldur, and even the mind altered La'gaan! How shall all this combat unfold? Find out next time!**


	15. Deep Peril

**So sorry for the long wait everybody. Hope you haven't lost faith in me, because now, at long last (and, somewhat oddly appropriately, in honor of a film starring a group of a different sort of titans (Godzilla: *lets out iconic roar in the background*) that was just released at the end of last month and is currently still in theaters) I give you the next chapter! In this chapter, the time has come for the titans to unleash some serious ass whooping on the abyssal forces. How shall they fare against these foes now that they're on comparatively even terms instead of getting ambushed in a trap? Let's find out everyone!**

 **A/N: But first, let me remind you that, with the exception of the abyssals, I own nothing DC/Teen Titans based present in this story.**

 **Chapter 14:**

 **Deep Peril**

The green abyssal soldier with silvery streaks shook his head side to side at the sight of the unconscious reddish brown scaled abyssal lying unconscious alongside five other young guards. "Damn it Carchareus," he growled. "You are much too confident for your own good."

He and the entire abyssal army had gathered around in the intersection and were observing the unconscious young guards left from the battle that had unfolded there not too long ago. Also amongst them were the six acolytes of Zath, plus a sizable number of identical looking giant purple starfish.

"Yes," Omoros agreed. "It is unfortunate what has happened here. But this turn of events is not entirely without fortune. As open as he left himself to attack in doing so, he was able to warn us all of the prisoners' escape. And furthermore." He looked to the green scaled acolyte. "Verminoth, I presume they are all alive?"

Verminoth nodded his head, having just finished using his magic to examine the six unconscious guards and do some minor bits of healing. "Yes sir, they are all alive. And they will all recover. I've already gone ahead and used as much magic as I dare to use before the coming battles, so they'll just have to wake up on their own."

"I understand."

Omoros gestured for all the abyssals and Starro clones to direct their attention towards him. "Friends, abyssals, followers of Zath and the star, listen to me. At this time, the star's plans are suffering a minor setback that we must now make sure is taken care of before it gets worse and potentially derails the plans entirely."

"Indeed," one of the abyssal soldiers agreed.

"They can't have gotten far," said a Starro clone.

"A fair assessment."

Omoros turned his head to face the purple scaled acolyte. "Undertow, can you pinpoint the prisoners' location?"

Undertow nodded, raised his fingers to his head, and started concentrating. "Yes," he said, eyes still closed. "I have found them."

"Where are they?" asked the red scaled acolyte.

Undertow lowered his fingers and opened his eyes. "The sorceress and the shapeshifter are in our living quarters," he stated, pointing his finger at the appropriate tunnel. He pointed to another tunnel. "The two princesses have taken refuge in where we practice our spell casting abilities." He pointed at a third tunnel. "Whereas the robot and the warrior with the demonic markings on his soul are in our combat training chamber."

"Then we shall all split up to take care of them."

Omoros gestured towards the blue and red acolytes. "Akmor, you and Bellimicus shall take the weapons route. As our tech and battle masters, you two should be the most suited to taking on the two Titans you will find down there."

"Understood," said Akmor.

"With pleasure," Bellimicus hissed in pleasure.

Omoros gestured towards Verminoth and Undertow. "You two shall take the living quarters. As our resident master at mind-based magic, you will be the most ideal amongst us to take on the sorceress Undertow, and Verminoth is a quick thinker who should be able to easily adapt swiftly in his strategy for any form the shapeshifter may take."

The two acolytes nodded their heads. "Sir."

Omoros nodded his head, and then turned to face the black scaled acolyte. "Janos, this leaves the two of us to handle the princesses in the magic training room."

Janos chuckled, ramming his right fist into his left palm. "This should be easy enough," he purred. "I already took out the orange skinned one before. A 2nd time shouldn't be too hard."

"Just don't get too overconfident."

Omoros turned to address the rest of the abyssals, as well as the Starro clones. "The rest of you shall likewise split up and accompany whoever amongst us you wish." He pointed at a single black scaled abyssal who seemed noticeably unhappy with sharing space with all the other abyssals. "Except for him."

The abyssal in question directed a glare at Omoros, its black eyes briefly showing a slight purple glow in its pupils as it hissed in disgust. "He shall accompany me and Janos. Something tells me that having this one in particular alongside us will make the coming battle considerably more difficult for the geomancer."

The transmogrified Aqualad hissed again, now sounding even _less_ happy.

Omoros nodded his head, clearly pleased with his own idea, and returned his attention to all his forces. "Alright, you have your orders. Let us be off. And in the event recapturing the escaped Titans proves more difficult than expected, do not be afraid to request assistance from the Star. Not only will he likely be more than happy to send further assistance in his own way, but we also have the two brainwashed heavy hitters on standby just in case he deems it necessary for them to assist us."

He raised his left hand, fist clenched. "Onward my brethren! Let us ensure that our former master's dream still comes true!"

The abyssals all howled joyously in unison, the Starro clones clasped their 'arms' together and chuckled maniacally at the same time, and they all rushed down the tunnels that would lead to the escaped prisoners.

. . . . .

Robin and Cyborg were in the combat training chamber, standing at the tip of the cliff overlooking the giant pit with their backs facing said pit. Robin kept his gaze focused on the entrance to the chamber, masked eyes narrowed. He then looked to Cyborg. "Still got a read on them?"

"Sure do, and we've got a bunch of them coming right for us."

"Perfect." Robin got himself into a battle pose. "I say we let them come."

Cyborg nodded his head in agreement. Then the sound of running feet and incoherent shouting was heard from within the tunnel, and rather loudly to. "Any minute now."

A large group of abyssals appeared at the tunnel entrance and started swarming into the cave.

"Attack," Robin snarled. In a flash, Robin hurled a trio of exploding flame disks while Cyborg simultaneously let off a blast from his sonic cannon. The resulting blast sent a respectable number of abyssals packing, but more kept coming in.

. . . . .

Starfire and Terra stood within the center of the magic training chamber, eyes and hands glowing in anticipation for when the time came to attack. The sound of approaching enemies from within the tunnel leading to them was all they needed to hear. With a scream, Terra clapped her hands together right as multiple abyssals started swarming into the room. The first abyssals to enter the chamber screamed as they found themselves smashed between two massive slabs of rock that rose from the ground underneath them and slammed together like a crocodile's jaws. When the slabs returned to their original position, the thoroughly smashed and unconscious abyssals crumpled to the floor. Another wave of abyssals came charging in, paying no heed to their unconscious brethren, only to be blasted aside with a volley of Starfire's star bolts.

No sooner had she blasted the newest wave of attackers out of commission when the Tamaranean sent a stream of star bolt energy at the top of the chamber's entrance. The resulting minor cave in sealed the entrance, the attackers still to enter shrieking and hissing as they just barely skidded to a halt in time to avoid getting crushed.

At the sound of angry snarling and pounding fists on the other side of the makeshift barrier, Starfire turned her head to face Terra. "This barrier will not keep them out forever," said Starfire.

"Good," said Terra. "They'll probably be very angry about this, and anger means they'll be much more likely to make mistakes."

Starfire smiled, an almost wicked smirk on her face. "Too true."

The makeshift barrier burst into dust, and the two princesses turned their heads back to where it had been in time to see another wave of abyssal warriors charge into the room. But the sight of a large group of giant purple starfish charging in alongside them was enough to cause their eyes to briefly widen in surprise before they hurriedly resumed their work at fighting the enemy.

. . . . .

Beast Boy and Raven crouched within the small cavern they'd chosen to hide in, waiting for the enemy to arrive. Raven had her hands and eyes dimly glowing, ready to enact a surprise that would hopefully throw off their upcoming attackers and give herself and Beast Boy a chance to make serious headway against the enemy. Beast Boy, meanwhile, was crouched on all fours and lowered to his belly, yet still in human form.

At the sound of hissing and running feet coming in their direction, the chromatically challenged Titans' eyes narrowed. Raven directed a brief glance towards Beast Boy. "Ready?" she asked. Beast Boy nodded, and turned into a wolf, a low snarl emitting from his throat immediately afterward.

Nodding silently in acknowledgment, Raven turned her head back to the direction the enemy noises were coming from. When the beings responsible for the noise started sounding particularly close to their position, Raven finally decided it was the right time for her and Beast Boy to make their move.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Raven snapped her fingers, and a massive number of glowing white crystals erupted out of the floor, bathing the entirety of the abyssal living quarters in bright light. A massive group of abyssals and Starro clones were already present in the area, and they all tensed up, wincing and hissing in discomfort. It was clear they'd been caught quite off guard by the sudden bright light. By the time they all had recovered enough to finally open their eyes again, it was too late to stop themselves from falling victim to the subsequent attacks sent their way by Raven and Beast Boy as they lunged out of their hiding place.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, in the cavern where the large pool of water was located, Starro himself stood upright upon the machine he'd been earlier encased inside of. Standing nearby him were Kaldur and a single pair of abyssal servants. As they stood at attention, waiting for Starro to give them a request or command, the alien starfish remained standing impassively, gazing at nothing in particular as he privately used his telepathy to observe his army's actions.

From what Starro was currently observing, neither of the three squadrons had gotten off to an entirely pleasant start, but they were all at least currently holding their own. Of course, neither of the acolytes had started actively participating in the battles just yet, and they could yet tip the scales more in their side's favor. But at the same time, the alien starfish couldn't help but feel that maybe it would be wise to prepare for the worst.

He turned around to face his brainwashed 2nd in command. "Kaldur."

Kaldur turned to face Starro. "Yes master?"

"Make straight for the intersection between the tunnels. I want you ready to be able to instantly go down any tunnel as needed in the event that any of our forces need your help. If I receive a message from either group asking for your assistance, I shall inform you which tunnel you will need to take."

The brainwashed Atlantean bowed, his water bearers already drawn and at the ready. "As you wish," he said. He turned to face the water cavern's exit and rushed into the tunnel.

Starro turned to the abyssal servants. "You two."

The servants directed their gaze at the starfish, who gestured to the same tunnel Kaldur had just taken. "Go to the lab. And while you're there, I want you to be on standby and ready for me to broadcast a very specific signal."

The two abyssals' eyes widened. "You are certain of this?"

Starro nodded his head. "I am as certain of this as I am doomed to stay on this planet."

"But we still haven't perfected the spell on him. We could yet fully lose control over him and be left with a mindless monster that will be just as likely to attack all of us as he will be to attack our enemies!"

"That is a risk I am currently more than willing to take."

Starro briefly turned his head to face the pool of water behind him. "If this were happening at any other time, I would never ask for something like this. But right now, there is too much at stake. Trident, and through him, all of us, are close, so close, to achieving victory. And we cannot afford to deal with this situation without putting full effort into it. If defeating them means losing control over the lagoon boy to the point that he has to be put down, then so be it. This is an all or nothing situation; and if we are to ensure that our plans don't end up getting foiled at this point, then we need to pull out all the stops."

The two abyssals looked each other in the eyes, and then back at Starro. "Very well sir,  
said one of the servants. "As you wish."

"Excellent."

"What about you?"

Starro and one of the servants looked at the 2nd servant. "What shall you be doing?"

Starro seemed to briefly think to himself. "A wise one said once that it is better to be safe then to be sorry." He glanced down at the machine he was standing upon. "And with what I said not too long ago in mind, I think it would be best for me to get myself sufficiently prepared for the possibility of the Titans somehow managing to successfully reach the point of I myself personally needing to put a stop to them."

The servants widened their eyes. "You are certain you are strong enough for that?"

"I have strength enough."

Starro lifted his head to face the servants once more. "Worry not about me. I can handle myself just fine. You, however, I believe have a laboratory to reach."

The servants' eyes widened again upon receiving this reminder. "Right, of course. We're on our way." The servants left.

Once he was alone, Starro nodded his head and took another glance at the machine he was standing upon. His eye took on a look that seemed to indicate a smug smirk. As useful as all of Trident's late clones had been in providing him with the energy needed to rejuvenate back to full health after his release from the ice, the machine he was now standing upon had proven considerably more useful over the course of all the time he'd spent inside it. For while it served a handy purpose as a container, it was in fact a natural energy generator; and from spending so much time inside it, he had managed to absorb a sizable amount of surplus energy. Now, it was high time he channeled that surplus energy and put it to good use.

. . . . .

Robin and Cyborg continued fighting the multiple abyssal warriors that rushed into the physical combat chamber, also making sure to deal with the myriad Starro clones that came rushing in alongside the abyssals.

"Don't let them touch you," Robin said as he blew several Starro clones away with a small volley of explosive disks.

"Heard you the first time," Cyborg muttered as he sent another squadron of Starro clones flying backward with a burst of his sonic cannon.

At the sound of snarling and hissing, the two Titans looked towards the enemy in time for their eyes to widen at the sight of all the abyssals charging various spells to send their way. They hurriedly looked around, and mentally cursed as they realized that the current circumstances left them only one means of escape; jumping down into the pit. They turned around and jumped off the cliff behind them right as the abyssals fired their spells. The resulting energy blasts harmlessly struck the now empty cliff top while Robin and Cyborg started hurtling down towards the bottom of the chasm.

In the midst of the fall, Robin hurriedly drew out a grappling gun and fired it at a nearby stalactite while Cyborg set his left arm to grappling hook mode and sent it springing towards the chasm wall directly in front of him. The hook end of Robin's grappler wrapped tightly around the stalactite he'd aimed at while Cyborg's left palm clenched tightly against the side of the wall. Thus the two teens were able to safely grapple their way down to the bottom of the chasm.

Without missing a beat, Cyborg retracted his arm and Robin slipped his grappling gun back into his utility belt. "Now what?"

Robin looked around the area, and a smirk came on his face. He pointed towards a slope leading back to the upper area of the cavern. The path in question was framed with a cavern wall on one side and a cliff wall on the other. "Something tells me they'd rather not test their luck going the way we came."

"Something tells me you're right. Not to mention, they probably know just as well as I do that we're not getting back up the way we came down."

Robin chuckled, and drew out a trio of explosive disks. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Cyborg converted his right arm into sonic cannon mode. "I've got the sonic if you've got the boom."

Robin nodded his head. "Let's move. I want to make sure we allow enough room for as many of those things to enter as possible before we set off the maneuver."

"Copy that."

The two Titans rushed back as far towards the end opposite the chasm's exit as they dared. They'd just skidded to a stop and turned to face the exit when the remaining abyssals and Starro clones that had come to fight them started charging their way into the chasm. Cyborg and Robin tensed into position, mentally counting down the seconds as they waited for the opportune moment. When the moment finally came, they were ready.

Without a word, Robin and Cyborg ran in opposite directions, using their momentum to briefly run straight up the walls they ran towards before then springing themselves in each other's direction with a sideways flipping motion. At the exact moment they had successfully flown past each other, they sent their respective attacks flying at the incoming squadron of abyssals and Starro clones.

The enemies skidded to a halt, eyes widened at the incoming attack. Several of the abyssals hurriedly attempted to cast shield spells. But they were too late, and the entire squadron was sent flying helter-skelter in all directions after being caught in the ensuing explosion of flames and noise waves. No sooner had the explosion cleared away when all the abyssals and Starro clones peeled off the walls they'd been sent slamming into and landed unconscious on the chasm floor.

Cyborg and Robin landed safely on their feet, smirking at the sight of their handiwork. "Works every time," said Robin.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Cyborg agreed.

The two Titans gave each other a high-five.

"Impressive work indeed."

Alerted by the unexpected voice from above, the Boy Wonder and his cybernetic companion looked back up towards the cliff they'd jumped off of to enter the chasm. Their eyes narrowed at the sight of two particularly tall and strong looking abyssals standing right at the edge of that very cliff.

The red scaled member of the duo nodded his head, his eyes agleam with delight. "You showed off an amazing degree of tactical thinking with that maneuver. Perhaps I should allow you to teach me and the other soldiers some moves and strategies for us to use in the future once you've been recruited."

"Indeed," the blue scaled abyssal agreed. "Not to mention you really ought to allow me to examine all those gadgets you have in your belt alongside your companion's technology once you've joined our cause. Neptune knows what kind of weapons and gadgets all that technology could inspire me to make."

"Let me guess," said Cyborg. "You guys are some of Starro's righthand freaks?"

"We are two of Omoros's fellow acolytes yes," the blue acolyte admitted. He gave a sarcastic wave. "I don't believe we properly introduced ourselves back at the lab. I am Akmor, the resident technician amongst the acolytes of Zath."

"And I am Bellimicus," the red scaled acolyte chimed in, drawing out an intimidating looking broadsword and swinging it threateningly side to side. "Zath's battle master."

Robin let a smirk come on his face as he realized where he'd heard the blue acolyte's name before. "I remember you," he said as he pointed at Akmor. "You're the one who was supposed to fix that design flaw in the potion converter that allowed my friends and I enough time to escape from the lab."

"Yes," Akmor hissed, a silent snarl on his face in clear displeasure at being reminded of that blunder. "But I can assure you right now child, that once you and your friends have been recaptured and subsequently converted to our cause, I will ensure that the annoyance you've just mentioned is taken care of."

"All fine and dandy." Cyborg aimed his sonic cannon towards the two acolytes. "But you're gonna have to catch us first!"

"Challenge accepted."

With a snap of Akmor's fingers, the two acolytes disappeared into a vortex of shadowy energy that then faded into thin air. Another such vortex subsequently appeared in front of Cyborg and Robin within the chasm, and Akmor and Bellimicus stepped out, the former's clawed fingers pulsing with electricity while the latter brandished his broadsword in an intimidating fashion.

"Let us fight," the red acolyte hissed.

"Yes, let's," the blue acolyte agreed.

Neither side needed further prompting. With a scream of rage and anticipation, the four combatants rushed at each other, eager to get the coming battle done and over with.

. . . . .

The abyssals and Starro clones that dared to go after Raven were taken down with almost contemptuous ease as the half demon sorceress let loose with her powers. The enemies that tried to go after Beast Boy similarly fared poorly as the shapeshifter sent them packing. At that current moment, Raven was blasting away at the abyssal warriors with bursts of shadow energy and various telekinetic boulder tosses while zapping the Starro clone out of commission with bursts of shadow lightning. Beast Boy, meanwhile, was currently in his polar bear form and swinging away at his attackers with his monstrously strong front paws.

"Literal demons can't control me," Raven snarled, slamming a squadron of abyssals against a wall with a wave of shadowy energy. She turned her head towards a group of Starro clones amassing from behind her, her eyes glowing with black energy. She gestured her now glowing right hand at them, and the clones all shrieked in unison as they were all encased in black energy and sent levitating into the air. "What makes you think you can do any better?" She snapped her fingers, and the Starro clones all howled in agony as the energy encasing them transformed into webs of black lightning.

Beast Boy sent the last of his immediate attackers crumpling to the floor out cold with a single mighty smack of his right front paw against the back of the opponent's head. He turned around to face another approaching squadron of enemies, roared at them, and then charged towards them, turning into a rhino in the process. The luckless enemies had no chance to stop or dodge before the shapeshifter plowed into them. No sooner had he finished taking care of this squadron of enemies when he saw a single large abyssal charging towards him and preparing to cast a spell. Snorting threateningly, Beast Boy turned to face the approaching abyssal, turned into a Utahraptor, and lunged.

Raven let all the Starro clones she'd just blasted plummet to the floor unconscious, smoke rising from their charred bodies as a result of the merciless attack to which she'd subjected them. She heard running feet. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," she yelled, only turning her head to look behind her immediately after she'd said the last word. She had just enough time to see a squadron of abyssals running towards her before the attack she'd triggered activated, and the incoming abyssals were all smashed against the ceiling by shadow encased rocky pillars that suddenly erupted from underneath them.

Beast Boy, now in his gorilla form, knocked the large abyssal out cold with a punch to the face, letting out a mix between a shriek and a roar as he subsequently beat his chest with his open palms. At the sound of shuffling noises behind him, he turned his head just in time to see a trio of Starro clones making their way towards him, seconds away from reaching their arms towards him. He hurriedly leaped towards them, turning into an electric eel in the process. The clones had just enough time for their eyes to widen before Beast Boy the eel slammed into them and exposed them to the full power of the resulting electrical shock. Within minutes, the purple starfish clones went sprawling. Four abyssals tried to surround Beast Boy while he was still lying on the floor in his electric eel form immediately afterward. The shapeshifter morphed into a lion, bit one of the four abyssals by the ankle, and swung him aside. Next he turned into a zebra and sent the abyssal behind him flying with a back kick to the chest.

Raven was preparing herself to attack another swarm of foes, her hands and eyes glowing, when she and her attackers were all caught off guard at the sound of electrical buzzing and agonized hissing coming from Beast Boy's direction. They all turned their heads to face that direction just in time to see Beast Boy and his own remaining attackers gaping in surprise at the sight of none other then the abyssal he'd kicked suddenly getting engulfed in electricity after slamming hard against one of the glowing crystals Raven had caused to rise out of the floor.

The luckless abyssal lost consciousness, and fell flat on his face, the current that had knocked him out fading away the instant it lost contact with the abyssal warrior's back. Still stunned, Beast Boy shifted back to human form. "Ok . . . no idea what just happened there. . ."

Raven, however, instantly knew just what to do next. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

In a flash, every single remaining abyssal and Starro clone in the area got encased in shadowy energy and then slammed against nearby crystals. The results proved so strong and bright that Raven had to hurriedly shield herself and Beast Boy with a rocky dome to avoid either suffering a seizure or getting themselves zapped as well while their foes were all violently electrocuted. From within their makeshift shelter, Beast Boy and Raven heard what sounded like an otherworldly roar of agony as all the abyssals and Starro clones started screaming in pain in unison from the resulting electrical currents that were triggered against them by their impact against the crystals.

When the sound of electricity and screaming finally ended, Raven and Beast Boy waited a full minute before allowing themselves to exit the safety of the rocky dome. Lying all around the area were unconscious abyssals and shriveled up Starro clones. Beast Boy whistled. "Hoowee, if I was shocked before, I'm positively charged now."

"Very funny," Raven grumbled while rolling her eyes. She glanced at one of the nearby Starro clones. "How was all that electricity even available for triggering?"

"I remember Terra telling me something once," Beast Boy explained, his eyes widened as Raven's question caused him to abruptly remember. "She knows a lot about crystals and gems thanks to her powers, and she once said that there's a type of electricity that can be produced by certain forms of crystal that can be triggered and unleashed if the crystals in question are subjected to an appropriate amount of pressure or heat. There was a name for this kind of electricity according to what she told me, but I can't remember it right now." He glanced at the glowing crystals sticking out of the ground thanks to Raven's powers. "My best guess is that, maybe all these crystals just happen to be a type of crystal that naturally produces that kind of electricity."

"You mean piezoelectricity?"

Beast Boy and Raven turned their heads in time to see a pair of abyssals stepping into the light from the tunnel that led to the abyssal living quarters. The Titans narrowed their eyes at the sight of these two, for they remembered seeing them amongst the six acolytes of Zath.

The green acolyte nodded his head. "I will admit, I did not expect the crystals we use as our hideout's light source to be the kind that produce such a phenomenon, but I suppose this explains why the star seemed so reluctant to touch them."

"Indeed," said the purple acolyte, who flashed the two Titans a 'thumbs up'. "Clever move."

"Thanks," Raven growled.

"What she said," Beast Boy grumbled. He pointed his finger at the two acolytes. "But since you guys are likely here to try to finish what all your goons started, I'd suggest you not waste time talking."

"All business I see," said the green acolyte. He chuckled, and stretched his arms over his head. "If it's a fight you want, then it is a fight you shall get." He pointed at Raven. "Undertow, you take care of the witch. I will see to the shapeshifter."

"Just as the star ordered," Undertow hissed. He nodded his head. "Understood Verminoth."

Undertow turned to face Raven, eyes narrowed in concentration, and fired a burst of flames at her from his right palm while Verminoth simultaneously sent a flurry of lightning spouting from his left claws towards Beast Boy. Raven summoned a shadowy force field, causing her to be pushed back several feet by the impact of Undertow's fiery attack against it, while Beast Boy turned into a rabbit and hurriedly leaped to the side just in time to dodge Verminoth's blast.

. . . . .

Starfire fought like a whirlwind, screaming incoherently in rage and exertion as she fought furiously against the abyssals and Starro clones that came her way. She did a backflip, kicking an incoming abyssal warrior in the jaw at the same time and sending it reeling. The Tamaranean landed firmly on her feet, turned around, and blasted another incoming abyssal warrior with a star bolt. She heard wind displacement from something large hurtling towards her, and she turned around in time to grab a lunging Starro clone by its bottom right limb. The clone hissed in surprise and discomfort before the Tamaranean then proceeded to spin in a clockwise circle, using her would be attacker as a makeshift club to smack aside all the other enemies that were now trying to form a circle around her. No sooner had she knocked over all the enemies trying to surround her when she let go of the Starro clone and sent it flying. The clone crashed into a small group of abyssals and fellow clones, its luckless allies in question crumpling to the cavern floor unconscious alongside it.

Terra, meanwhile, similarly fought mercilessly against her foes, punching, kicking, and blasting with terrakinetic attacks as needed. A group of enemies that attempted to surround her and charge in from all directions fared no better against her then a similar group had fared in attempting a similar trick against Starfire. Concentrating as hard as she could, she summoned a full yellow aura, then unleashed all the subsequent energy she'd charged up in the form of a powerful shockwave, letting out a skyward scream in the process. The bright yellow shockwave slammed into the abyssals and Starro clones rushing towards the geomancer, sending them rocketing away from her and crashing into cavern walls and various props.

Terra stood where she was, panting from the effort it had taken to summon the shockwave, only to shriek in surprise when she found herself suddenly engulfed in the embrace of a Starro clone. The geomancer squirmed and thrashed to free herself, her cries muffled by the Starro clone's skin covering her face.

The clone mentally chuckled, activating its mind control powers, only for its single eye to widen in shock as it was suddenly grabbed and yanked off of Terra by Starfire. Screaming in rage, Starfire swung the Starro clone through the air in circles, sent it crashing against a wall, and then blasted it with a jet of star bolt energy. The Starro clone hissed in pain, thrashing and writhing as the star bolt energy plowed against it before it finally went limp and lost consciousness.

Starfire turned around to face Terra, who gasped in relief, and flashed the Tamaranean a 'thumbs up'. "Thank you."

"You are the welcome."

At the sound of hissing, Starfire turned her head away from Terra, firing her eye beams at an incoming abyssal warrior. The abyssal was sent flying backward by the blast.

A swarm of Starro clones dropped down from the ceiling, forming a circle around the two princesses. Starfire and Terra positioned themselves back to back as they faced the Starro clones surrounding them. The clones all smirked. "End of the line royal brats," said one of the starfish. "End of the line."

Starfire narrowed her eyes, clearly not liking being called a brat. Terra, however, surreptitiously made note of the runes engraved upon the floor tiles that the Starro clones were standing on. "That's what you think." She stomped on the ground, causing a small boulder to pop out of the ground in front of her. She kicked it toward the Starro clone directly in front of her. The alien starfish ducked, and the boulder harmlessly sailed over him. He straightened back up, an arrogant look in his eye. "You missed . . ."

But Terra had in fact not been aiming for the starfish. Rather, she'd been aiming for the pressable panel on the wall behind it, the one that had the same rune engraved upon it as the floor panels all the Starro clones were standing on . . . a lightning bolt rune. Bursts of lightning erupted from the floor panels the Starro clones were standing on, the purple starfish all shrieking in pain as they were placed under the mercy of the electricity zapping them.

Terra smirked at the writhing and screaming purple starfish. "You were right," she purred. "It was the end of the line . . . for _you_."

"Curse . . . you."

The electricity runes shut off, and the Starro clones all collapsed to the floor unconscious.

Starfire nodded, and directed an approving look at the geomancer. "Very good work friend."

"Thanks."

"Indeed good work."

Starfire and Terra looked towards the entrance to the chamber just in time to see none other than Omoros and Janos enter the room. The two princesses narrowed their eyes. "You," Terra snarled.

Janos grinned cheekily. "Us," he agreed mockingly.

Starfire growled, a star bolt flaring to life on both of her fists. "If you wish to recapture me and my friends, you will have to know that we will not be doing the going down without a fight."

"I took you down easy enough before," Janos purred, pointing his finger at Starfire. "What makes you think you'll do any better on a rematch?"

"You got the lucky that time," Starfire snarled. "Caught me by the surprise. But this time will be a fair fight."

Janos thought to himself. "Fair enough. I did freeze you the first time before you had the chance to even _try_ to fight back." He nodded his head. "Very well, I'll allow you the chance to fight back . . . against both myself _and_ Omoros."

Terra raised her eyebrow. "Pretty sure Omoros will be much too busy fighting me to help you out buddy."

"Guess again."

Immediately after Omoros said this, he and Janos stepped aside to reveal a snarling black scaled abyssal with dark purple eyes.

Terra blanched, her blue eyes widening as she recognized the abyssal. "Garth?"

The transformed Aqualad hissed, his eyes narrowing ominously.

Janos chuckled, arrogant smirk once again on his face. "He may still have just enough of his old self in there to _really_ not like having to work alongside us, let alone the fact that he's now an abyssal. But fortunately, there's also just enough abyssal in him now for him to be more than willing to do exactly that . . . as long as you're at his side for the rest of your life as an abyssal as well."

"Indeed."

Omoros turned his head to look straight at Aqualad, and then pointed at Terra. "There's your mate right over there. You want her to join us?"

The transformed Aqualad spent a few seconds completely silent, glaring at Omoros. But then he looked at Terra, and both Titan princesses managed to clearly see his scaly face take on a melancholy look of yearning as he gazed at the geomancer. Then he nodded his head 'yes', letting out a low hiss in the process.

"Then prove it," Omoros continued. "Fight her. Knock her out. Ensure that she can be successfully recaptured and recruited. And worry not about any counterattack from her. As long as you both remain separate species, she will not dare harm you too seriously any more then you yourself will dare harm her. Leave the orange one to Janos and I. Claim your mate!"

Aqualad let out a mixture between a sob and a snarl, and then lunged at Terra like a tiger. Terra, caught completely off guard by the sudden lunge, was knocked over on her back by her lunging transmogrified boyfriend. "Oof," she grunted as she was caught on the receiving end of the pounce.

Starfire whipped her head to face Terra's direction. "Terra!" she yelled in surprise, tensing herself up to run to help her. A burst of lightning struck her from her right and knocked her away. The Tamaranean slammed against a wall and slid down to the floor, and she looked up in time to see Janos and Omoros leap into position directly in front of her, claws flickering with magical energy.

"Don't even think about trying to intervene," Janos purred. He pointed at the now wrestling Terra and Aqualad. "Lover's spats are always best solved between the quarreling lovers themselves."

"My associate is correct," Omoros agreed, his fingers crackling with lightning as he prepared to blast Starfire again. "As for you, you will have the two of us to deal with . . . or should it be the other way around?"

. . . . .

Kaldur stood at attention within the intersection, waiting patiently for orders from his master. He raised his water bearers up and down, occasionally spinning them around in his hands. He looked at the various tunnel entrances, his unnaturally purple glowing eyes calm and pokerfaced. It had been a quarter of an hour now since he'd been sent to his current post, and he was feeling eager to finally get the chance to do some actual fighting.

"Kaldur."

The brainwashed Atlantean perked up. "Yes master," he responded telepathically.

"Go through the tunnel to the physical combat training chamber. Be on standby outside the pit. I have been telepathically observing, and both Bellimicus and Akmor are starting to get far too confident in their chances of victory for their own good. If they continue to act in such a way, then they will most certainly be defeated in the very near future. And I want you to be there to pick up where they left off if they indeed do end up defeated."

"As you wish master."

Kaldur turned to face the tunnel with the clashing weapons engraved over it, his water bearers taking on the form of a pair of swords, and then rushed off to obey his master's request. Only a minute after his departure, the silence was split with the sound of running footsteps combined with an inhuman roaring coming from the tunnel that led to the lab.

The two servants who had been sent to be at the ready to release La'gaan were now running in terror away from the lab. And chasing after them, was none other than the very Atlantean they'd been sent to watch and prepare for release. In all the time that had passed the moment he'd awoken from his latest nap and sounded the alarm, no one had bothered to go down to the lab to pacify him or forcibly calm him. As a result, he'd managed in his long period of time raging and snarling to break free from his chains. And immediately after the servants had opened the lab door to follow Starro's orders, he had seized the opportunity in his animalistic state to escape the lab and chase after them.

Then the panting and gasping of the servants turned to screams and howls as La'gaan caught up to them, grabbed them by the tails, and proceeded to bang and smash them against the walls and floor of the tunnel. Eventually, the two servants came flying out of the tunnel and crash landed painfully on their stomachs against the floor of the intersection chamber. Then La'gaan leaped out of the tunnel, his feet landing hard on their backs. The servants wheezed and hissed in pain from the impact, and continued to do so as he jumped up and down on their backs thrice. Then he grabbed them by their cranial fins and slammed their heads together, knocking them out.

La'gaan stood atop the two unconscious abyssal servants, snarling and growling mindlessly as he tried to figure out what to do next. Part of him was strongly considering killing and eating the two abyssals. But at the same time, there was something inside him that, much to his animalistic annoyance, kept holding him back from doing exactly that. He hissed irritably, his red eyes narrowed. He was angry, confused, and hungry.

Then he caught a whiff of a scent from the tunnel leading to the abyssal living quarters, and his head snapped to face that direction, a particularly loud snarl spilling out of his mouth. He had no idea why, but for some reason, he felt an overwhelming hatred for whatever it was that this scent belonged to. He roared incoherently in beastly fury, and then started charging down the tunnel the scent was coming from.

. . . . .

Starfire flew threw the air as much as the cavern's design allowed, hurling her star bolts left and right at Omoros and Janos. The two abyssals effortlessly shielded themselves with the appropriate spells.

"Is that really the best you can do?" Janos asked mockingly, lowering his shield and firing a burst of shadowy energy at the Tamaranean in the process.

Starfire dodged, and the shadow ball struck harmlessly against the cavern's ceiling. She then glared at Janos, her eyes glowing, and blasted him dead on with her eye beams. "I could ask the same of you." She raised her right fist, a star bolt charging up to be thrown at Janos, only for Starfire to then be blasted aside by a burst of lightning from Omoros. The star bolt she had been preparing to fire at Janos went wide, harmlessly striking a training dummy.

"You let your guard down far too easily princess."

Starfire turned her head from where she'd been sent flying, only for her eyes to widen at the sight of Omoros now lunging towards her with his right fist at the ready to slam against the side of her head. She rolled aside, and the abyssal's fist harmlessly struck the cavern wall. She zapped him in the side with her eye beams while he was still briefly confused by his failure to strike her.

Terra, meanwhile, found herself doing everything she could to adequately defend herself from Aqualad's attacks while also not harming him too severely in the process. With the sheer ferocity that her transmogrified boyfriend was willing to display in his attacks, this was far from easy. Furthermore, as much as she now wanted to draw out her syringe and attempt to undo the effects of the potion, she didn't dare get it out just yet for fear of him slapping it out of her hands and risking it shattering on the floor in his current fearsome state.

Aqualad advanced towards Terra, swinging his clawed hands left and right. Terra kept moving backwards, ducking and swinging herself sideways as needed to avoid getting sliced up.

"Garth, please calm down," Terra said as she swung to avoid yet another swing of Aqualad's claws. He then swung his tail at her, forcing her to duck. "I really don't want to fight you," Terra said as she did so, jumping backwards afterward to avoid a snap of her boyfriend's fangs in the process.

Aqualad glared, his teeth bared, and then abruptly spat a jet of water from his mouth at Terra. Terra screamed in shock as her boyfriend's water breath crashed into her and slammed her against a wall. Once the attack was finished, Terra lifted herself into a sitting position, spat out some water, coughing and gasping, and then looked back towards Aqualad in time to see the him crawl to a stop a couple feet front of her while positioned like a cat about to lunge.

Terra's eyes narrowed, and she lifted her now glowing left fist. "But I _will_ if I have to," she snarled. She thrusted her left fist forward, Aqualad pouncing towards her at the same time . . . only to then be sent flying backward when a diagonal stone pillar burst from the ground and slammed into his chest mid lunge.

"Fwarl," Aqualad snarled as he went rocketing backward from the impact against his chest.

Terra got to her feet and rushed towards Aqualad once he was down, both of her hands now glowing as she prepared another attack. He saw this, leaped back to his feet, and spat out another jet of water. Terra jumped in time to dodge, doing a triple front flip in the process. By the time she landed, the water breath had already shut off, and she slammed her right fist on the cavern floor immediately upon landing, causing a line of stalagmites to erupt from the floor and rapidly advance in her boyfriend's direction.

The transformed Atlantean snapped his now glowing hands upwards, his head snapping up to face the ceiling as well with a roar. In direct response to his glowing hands, a spout of water erupted from the floor in front of him and expanded into a line of watery geysers heading directly towards the line of stalagmites. The water spouts effortlessly slammed their way through the stalagmites, forcing Terra to jump aside to avoid getting splashed.

Aqualad hissed, turned his head to face the direction Terra had jumped, and positioned his hands in time to start forming a whirling orb of water. But then a large slab of stone suddenly rose up in front of him in the style of a drawbridge, slamming into him and knocking him on his back, the attempted attack harmlessly splashing against him as well as a result of the stone slab's impact. Terra lowered the slab and then rushed towards the downed Aqualad, ready to continue the fight.

. . . . .

Beast Boy reared up, currently in king cobra mode, and hissed violently towards Verminoth. Verminoth chuckled, rubbed his palms together, and stared intently at the serpentine shapeshifter. "Go ahead and strike," he purred, his hands now at the ready to try to catch Beast Boy. "I dare you to try."

Sure enough, Beast Boy lunged, fangs at the ready to try to bite Verminoth, only for the green abyssal to react swiftly enough to grab the green cobra by the neck. Verminoth grinned smugly. "I knew you would do that. . ."

Beast Boy turned into a tiger. Verminoth had just enough time for his smug expression to become a look of shock before he found himself pinned to the floor under the front paws of Beast Boy's tiger form, losing his grip on the fur on the beast's neck in the process. Beast Boy snarled. "I _knew_ you knew I would do that," he thought to himself. He roared, and bit down towards Verminoth's face, only for the abyssal to hurriedly teleport out of the tiger's grasp. Verminoth reappeared out of his teleportation, claws and fangs at the ready, only to be caught off guard again at the sight of a green baboon hurtling towards him with its left fist at the ready to strike him in the face and its teeth at the ready to bite him.

Meanwhile, Raven and Undertow were positioned nearby, Raven with her right hand extended and her eyes and hands glowing as she fired a beam of shadowy energy at the abyssal while Undertow had his hands positioned against the sides of his head and appeared to be firing a beam of willpower towards the sorceress from his head. Right now, the beams were connected together and battling for dominance.

"You put up a good fight," said Undertow. "But your current efforts will be for nothing. I am the strongest and most skilled of the abyssal mind manipulators. If anyone can take you on, it's me. And I already took you out once before, so why should a rematch be any more difficult?"

Raven only snarled, and put more power into her attack. "You're gonna have to try a lot harder then your current effort to convince me of that."

Undertow grinned. "Be careful what you wish for." He put more power into his own attack, and Raven very noticeably winced as she briefly faltered, just barely keeping her own attack from being completely pushed back by Undertow's.

Verminoth skidded backwards, his claws scratching against the floor after he and Beast Boy ended up separating over the course of their duel. Beast Boy, now in big horned sheep mode, similarly skidded backwards to a halt. He reared up on his hind legs, bleating in challenge while moving his forelegs like a horse. Verminoth growled, made his fists glow with magic, and then slammed them on the floor, sending a line of stalagmites advancing rapidly towards the green ram, who shapeshifted into a bald eagle and flew harmlessly over the geokinetic attack. Verminoth summoned three small boulders and sent them flying at the eagle one at a time. The shapeshifter dodged all three, and then turned into a kangaroo while still diving down in Verminoth's direction, the kangaroo form's massive feet slamming into the abyssal acolyte's chest and knocking him on his back.

Verminoth, groaning in pain, managed to laboriously get himself into a seated position, seemingly unaware of how Beast Boy was now suddenly no longer standing on him in kangaroo mode. Then he shrieked as something long and sticky wrapped around the tip of his tail and yanked him away. Beast Boy, now in giant anteater mode, had grabbed onto Verminoth and started swinging him around with his tongue. This did not last very long on account of how nasty Verminoth's scaly skin tasted to the poor shapeshifter, and the abyssal was sent rocketing against a nearby wall. Verminoth had just gotten his bearings back after this when he then screamed at the sight of Beast Boy charging straight at him in rhino mode. The green rhino slammed headfirst into Verminoth, his horn just barely slamming into the wall space directly next to the abyssal acolyte's left ribs.

Raven and Undertow similarly continued their duel. At this point, they had disengaged their beams and were now rushing around the room firing blasts at each other. Raven hurled orb after orb of shadow energy while Undertow summoned orbs of wind and thrusted them in her direction.

"It would be a lot easier for the both of us if you'd stay still," Undertow hissed as he sent a miniature tornado hurtling Raven's way.

Raven teleported herself safely out of the tornado's path. "Too bad," she snarled upon rematerializing. "I don't _do_ easy. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She fired a jet of shadowy lightning from her fingertips at her abyssal attacker. He teleported to safety, and the shadowy lightning harmlessly charred the ground where he'd been standing.

He rematerialized a couple feet behind Raven. She turned her head to face that direction, and saw the purple abyssal acolyte grinning. "Then why did you just grant the ok for us both to teleport over the course of our duel?"

Raven mentally cursed. Apparently, Undertow had been deliberately been waiting for her to be the first to use teleportation over the course of the duel before allowing his own teleportation to be put to use. And now that she herself had done exactly that, he had determined to use teleportation as well to ensure the fight remained evenly matched.

"But first, let us try _this_ again."

The acolyte raised his hands to a familiar position on the sides of his head. Raven's eyes briefly widened, and she hurriedly sent a beam of shadows his way right at the same time he fired a 2nd beam of willpower towards her. The beams collided and the two spellcasters once again had their attacks battle for dominance, and Raven couldn't help but wince at just how much more powerful Undertow's attack was this time compared to the previous effort. Undertow, chuckling under his breath, slowly increased the power of his willpower beam, determined more than ever to break Raven down.

At the same time, Verminoth and Beast Boy were staring each other down while walking in circles, Beast Boy growling and roaring in his lion form while Verminoth hissed and snarled. Both green combatants were patiently waiting for their opponent to either make the first move or show a sign of weakness. Then Beast Boy heard wincing and hissing coming from Raven's direction, and he looked in that direction. His eyes widened at the sight of her starting to falter in her efforts to hold back Undertow's efforts at blasting her with his telepathic attack. Unfortunately for him, his looking in Raven's direction also proved just the distraction Verminoth needed to lunge upon the green lion.

Beast Boy roared as he found himself pinned to the floor on his back by the green acolyte of Zath. Verminoth chuckled, a toothy grin on his face and his tongue hanging out maniacally. "You should have lunged when you had the chance." Beast Boy turned his furry head to face Verminoth, snarling and growling in rage and defiance.

Raven, meanwhile, was similarly not faring well in her battle against Undertow. "How's _this_ for convincing?" Undertow asked, his pride clear in his voice at how he was currently winning the fight. Raven grimaced, her eyes closed, and her mouth clenched into a silent snarl as she tried desperately to keep her own attack strong against the almost unbearably strong force of the acolyte's willpower.

A savage roar suddenly filled the air. All four combatants paused in surprise, and then turned their heads to face the entrance to the living space. Standing right there, illuminated in the light of the glowing crystals positioned around the entrance, was none other than La'gaan. As the bewitched Atlantean stood where he was, snarling and hissing, Beast Boy and Raven looked on, half relieved and half wary, while Verminoth and Undertow took on quite clearly nervous looks.

Verminoth looked to Undertow. "Do you think the star sent him to assist us?"

But Undertow had already quickly read La'gaan's mind, and he shook his head. "He didn't." He winced, now remembering how he himself had been the one to cast the spell currently affecting the Atlantean warrior. "This is bad."

La'gaan roared, his eyes focused straight at Undertow, and he charged. The purple acolyte teleported out of La'gaan's way, Raven also teleporting out of the Atlantean warrior's sight. La'gaan skidded to a halt, snarling and slavering at its target's disappearance. He heard footsteps come to a stop behind, and then shrieked in surprise when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him from behind and lift him off his feet.

"Calm down, right now," Verminoth hissed.

La'gaan growled, closed his eyes, and concentrated. Much to Verminoth's horror, and the shock of the watching Beast Boy, La'gaan increased in size, his body inflating like a pufferfish. Within seconds, Verminoth's arms were no longer completely wrapped around La'gaan's body. La'gaan reached behind him, grabbed Verminoth's tail, and swung him around like a tetherball. Verminoth hissed and shrieked as he was spun through the air, then he was slammed facedown on the floor, only for La'gaan to start jumping up and down on his back.

La'gaan felt a sudden pain flare up in his head, and he slammed his hands on his scalp, howling as he felt himself fall victim to an agonizing telepathic attack. He noticed a flash of purple out of the corner of his eyes, and directed his angry gaze straight towards none other than Undertow.

The purple acolyte narrowed his amber eyes, increasing his concentration further so as to intensify the power of his willpower beam. La'gaan snarled in pain, but nonetheless did everything he could to power his way through in order to reach his abyssal attacker. Undertow snarled, and increased the power of his attack even more. La'gaan continued fighting his way through, Undertow putting more and more power into his attack at the same time. Finally, right as La'gaan was just a couple footsteps away, the bewitched Atlantean fell to his knees, howling with his hands clasped against the sides of his head and his eyes closed.

Undertow let a half arrogant sneer and half irritated snarl come on his face as he gazed at the now seemingly subdued La'gaan. "I _will_ have order," he growled. "I am your master, and I will _not_ have any insubordination from you. . ."

A burst of black lightning tendrils struck Undertow in the back, and he howled as he was engulfed in the shadowy energy, his hands and arms snapping out of position and his willpower beam fading to nothing as a result. In his agony, he managed to laboriously turn his head to look behind him, and mentally cursed as he saw Raven blasting him from behind. "Basic rule of combat, never turn your back on your opponent."

Undertow narrowed his eyes. "Curse you," he managed to growl before he was suddenly grabbed by the tail and yanked off his feet by La'gaan. The abyssal barely even had time to react before he found himself slammed on the floor left and right in an almost metronomic pattern. The abyssal could only hiss and snarl in pain and shock as he was summarily smashed around, and then spun in circles through the air. Then La'gaan threw him, and Undertow screamed as he rocketed through the air right towards Verminoth, who had just managed to laboriously get back to his feet.

The purple acolyte crashed into his green partner, and the two acolytes went sprawling. They had just gotten on their hands and knees, grumbling in pain, when La'gaan came to a stop behind them, grabbed them by their cranial fins, and slammed their heads together. Verminoth and Undertow had just enough time to hiss in discomfort before their eyes rolled into the backs of their heads, and they lost consciousness. La'gaan let go of their cranial fins, and the two unconscious acolytes collapsed to the floor.

As La'gaan stood over Verminoth and Undertow, hissing and snarling in indecision and rage, Beast Boy and Raven watched, relieved for the help he'd ended up incidentally giving them, yet also wary at how rather vicious and on edge he still seemed to be. The chromatically challenged titans looked each other in their eyes, the same silent question passing between them. Should they approach him?

Beast Boy then took a deep breath and stepped forward towards La'gaan. "Hey dude," he began. "Thanks for the help. We really appreciate . . ."

La'gaan snapped his head in Beast Boy's direction, snarling angrily, and his red eyes narrowed.

The changeling gulped, and backed away with his hands raised in a placatory gesture. La'gaan continued gazing in his direction, growling and hissing at the two unfamiliar faces.

Scarcely daring to remove his gaze from La'gaan, Beast Boy directed a slight glance at Raven out of the corner of his eyes. "I'd recommend we stay back for now," he whispered. "Right now, the spell on him has him reduced practically to having the mind of a confused wild animal. And trying to approach him might trigger him into going territorial on us."

Raven nodded her head, silently agreeing that La'gaan currently looked far from safe to approach at the moment. "I'll see if I can lift the spell on him while he's still relatively calm," she whispered to Beast Boy. She lifted her right hand, eyes glowing as she prepared to attempt to lift the spell on the Atlantean warrior.

The instant her mind made contact with La'gaan's, the Atlantean tensed up, clenched his eyes shut, and _howled_ in a mixture of agony, fear, and rage.

"What the?" Beast Boy asked.

"Care to explain?" Raven asked, now looking less than amused.

"Um . . ." Beast Boy thought. Then his eyes widened, and he winced. "Of course," he grumbled bitterly. "What they did to cast the spell that's got him like this in the first place. It was probably similar to what you were about to try to do to free him. He must be really averse to having unfamiliar telepathic presences in his mind after what they did to cast that spell on him. Should have thought of that."

La'gaan directed his gaze back towards Raven and Beast Boy, an ominous glare now on his face.

Beast Boy blanched. "Oh this isn't gonna be good."

Raven raised her eyebrow. "You think?"

La'gaan roared savagely, and then charged straight towards the chromatically challenged duo.

. . . . .

Cyborg fired his sonic cannon, blasting a fireball that Akmor had sent after him into harmless smoke. "Is that the best you can do?!" Cyborg mockingly yelled. "You _really_ could use some serious combat training if you're really as inept as you're currently making yourself look!"

Akmor snarled, lightning crackling around his claws. "Shut up you piece of scrap metal!" He shot a burst of lightning towards Cyborg, who leaped to the side just in time to avoid the blast. "Stay still and let me blast you already!"

"Sorry, much more fun to keep dodging," Cyborg quipped. He aimed his sonic cannon at Akmor. "And attacking." He blasted the blue acolyte.

Akmor slammed against the wall behind him, hissing in pain. He glared back at Cyborg, salivating in rage, and then sent a line of water spouts erupting in the bionic teen's direction. Cyborg rushed to his left to avoid the watery attack, preparing to launch a volley of missiles at the same time. Once he'd reached a safe position, Cyborg fired a round of missiles at Akmor. The acolyte hurriedly summoned a force field, but the sheer force of the missiles' impact against his shield caused him to still be sent flying backward.

Bellimicus and Robin, meanwhile, were firmly engaged in their own duel. Currently, Robin appeared to be on the defensive, a fact that was causing the red scaled acolyte to become increasingly bolder and more vicious in his attacks as he continued to effortlessly wield his mighty sword. What he failed to notice, however, was how deceptively calm Robin was acting.

The acolyte was fast. The boy wonder would definitely admit to that. What few attacks he chose to dodge, he only managed to do so by a hair. But for the majority of the duel, Robin's mind was in a different mode, calmly defending as he analyzed his opponent's style. And from what he'd observed, Bellimicus appeared to be mindlessly cutting and slashing at him in a style that was all offense and zero defense.

Before long, Bellimicus appeared to become quite surprised that Robin was still not yet defeated. "How?" he asked.

"How have I not already been beaten I presume you're trying to ask?"

Robin suddenly swung his sword in a move that sent the acolyte's mighty broadsword flying out of his scaly hands. Bellimicus winced, and then his eyes widened in surprise. He looked towards where his sword landed, and then back at the now quite irritated looking teen caped crusader. "Judging by how pathetic a performance you just handed in, I believe I should be asking 'how'. Specifically, how you ended up chosen to be the battle master of this cult." He dismissed his sword, and then dealt Bellimicus a flying roundhouse kick to the face. The acolyte went stumbling backwards, slamming against a wall. He didn't even have time to fully regain his bearings before he suddenly shrieked as he was then caught in the blast of a trio of freeze disks the boy wonder threw from his utility belt. The instant the icy mist from the blast was gone, a stunned Bellimicus was revealed to be completely encased in a massive block of ice.

Cyborg, meanwhile, was still fighting his comparatively more difficult duel with Akmor. "Booyah," Cyborg hollered as he shot Akmor, point blank, with a sonic cannon blast while the acolyte was attempting to pounce on him.

Akmor sprawled against the floor. He got back on his feet, growled, and sent a spout of water flying from his hands. Cyborg converted his fingers into 'volt gun' mode, and fired streams of electricity at the water spout attack. The acolyte howled as the electricity fired from Cyborg rode across the water and jolted him.

"Give it up," Cyborg said after shutting off the electricity. "I've got you beat."

"We'll see about that," Akmor hissed. He raised himself onto one knee, his hands glowing with blue energy. He slammed them together with a roar, summoning a vortex of icy wind around him that started to rapidly expand in all directions.

Cyborg's eyes widened at the sight of this. Due to the 'area-of-effect' nature and wide reach of the attack, he would have a tough time dodging it. "Crap," he thought to himself.

The makeshift blizzard reached its full range of attack, engulfing the area Cyborg was standing in and blocking him from Akmor's view at the same time. The blue scaled acolyte kept the attack going on for at least a minute before finally having it dispelled. But no sooner had the entirety of the icy attack faded away when Akmor's eyes narrowed at a single unwanted detail. Cyborg had somehow mysteriously vanished from where he'd been positioned at the time the attack had obscured him from view. "Where is he?" Akmor thought to himself as he walked over to investigate. He got on his knees when he reached where Cyborg had been standing, his eyes narrowed as he examined the frozen outlines of what looked like foot prints, an obvious indication that Cyborg's feet had been close to encasement in ice before his mysterious vanishing act.

The sound of an extending cord and something heavy coming to a soft landing behind him caused Akmor to widen his eyes in alarm. He had just enough time to turn his head in time to see Cyborg now suddenly standing right behind him while his right arm retracted back into its usual place. "Should have made that attack's range a heck of a lot higher upwards." With the very hand that he'd just finished using to briefly grapple his way to safety, he dealt the blue scaled acolyte a thundering uppercut to the jaw. "BOOYAH!"

Akmor went rocketing up into the air, slamming against a rare spot of the ceiling that didn't have stalactites protruding from it. After a few seconds of Cyborg gazing up at him, Akmor let out a groaning wheeze of pain and discomfort, closed his eyes as he lost consciousness, and then plummeted down to the floor, where he landed painfully on his belly and face with a thud.

Cyborg walked calmly over to where the now unconscious Akmor had landed. He got on one knee and smirked at the acolyte. "You may be the tech master around here," he stated. "But ain't nobody a master of this machine, except me."

"And I thought giving Bond one-liners was my job."

Cyborg chuckled, and turned his head to face a now cheekily grinning Robin. "What can I say? Can't let you have _all_ the fun in that regard."

Robin nodded his head. "Sounds fair enough."

"Indeed."

Robin and Cyborg turned their heads, and saw none other then Kaldur standing at the edge of the cliff overlooking the chasm, his face impassive, and his arms folded across his chest with his water bearers still in sword-mode. The mind controlled Atlantean nodded his head, unnaturally purple glowing eyes agleam. "You have done well. I will admit to that. But I can assure you." He repositioned his arms into a more battle appropriate posture, his water bearers catching the light from the cavern's glowing crystals and making them look very ominously sharp despite being made out liquid water. "Your ordeal is far from over."

The boy wonder narrowed his eyes, and crouched into a battle ready position of his own, his right hand reaching into his utility belt for a birdarang. "Well bring it on. We're ready."

"Yeah," Cyborg agreed. "We've just taken down a large bunch of abyssal flunkies, a swarm of psycho mind controller starfish, and two of your boss's sycophant acolytes, no sweat. We can take you."

"Bold claim."

Kaldur nodded his head. "But they were all careless, and didn't take you anywhere near seriously enough." He leaned forward; his glowing eyes so bright now that they were almost literally burning as he gazed down towards the two titans. "I will not make that mistake."

"Well if you're so confident," said Robin. "Let's get it on." In a flash, he drew out the item he'd grasped onto and sent it flying in Kaldur's direction. It wasn't until Kaldur had briefly converted his left water bearer into a whip and lashed the object in question in midflight that Robin became aware that he'd accidentally thrown his syringe of charm dispelling elixir instead of a birdarang.

The boy wonder's eyes widened, stunned and horrified by the boneheaded move he'd just pulled. Cyborg's own eyes also widened, clearly realizing just how big Robin had now potentially screwed things up. "Our friends had so better not have already lost their syringes as swiftly as Robin and me," he thought to himself, knowing how important it was for them to have at least one syringe full of the stuff to hopefully reverse Aqualad's transmogrification.

The pieces of the now shattered syringe landed on the ground a few feet in front of Robin, the now rapidly evaporating elixir coming to a landing at the same spot before it finally dissipated into mist.

Kaldur raised his eyebrow. "Intriguing choice of weapon. I guess you hoped that a mere stab in the right spot with such a thing, combined with the possibility of that particular potion entering my body, would be enough to mar the rune tattooed on my chest and rob me of my loyalty to the star."

He threw his right hand water bearer into the air, the weapon doing a brief counterclockwise spin as it converted into the shape of a whip just like the one in his left hand. He caught the newly transformed second water bearer, lashed both of them into wrapping around a stalactite, and then jumped off the clip, swinging down to the ground before safely landing on both feet with his water bearer whips lashed out to his sides in a surprisingly awesome looking fashion. Kaldur straightened back up, teeth gritted into an almost bestial snarl. "But it will take far more then a minor stab from a mere _needle_ to force me to fight alongside inferior surface dwellers such as you instead of the star!"

He abruptly lashed his left water bearer towards Cyborg, the weapon morphing into a watery flail in the process. Cyborg didn't even notice the transformation until the suddenly formed 'spiked ball' at the tip banged him right in the face.

"YAHOOIE!" Cyborg yelled as the jarringly strong impact against his face sent him flying backward.

"Cyborg!" Robin yelled; his eyes widened as he instinctively ran in his friend's direction. A lash of Kaldur's right water bearer, itself now in the form of a flail, forced Robin to skid to a halt just barely in time to avoid getting directly hit when it struck the ground in front of him.

"And this battle will not be over until you're either fit for conversion . . . or dead!"

Robin turned his head in Kaldur's direction, only for his masked eyes to widen once again at the sight of Kaldur having jumped and now spinning a full 360 in midair, a harsh guttural scream bursting from his throat as he headed down towards Robin with his water bearers reverting back to their earlier sword forms. Robin had only seconds to react, and only managed by a freak miracle to summon his sword back in time to successfully parry the mind controlled Kaldur's attempt to slice him in half with a downward cut from both of his water bearers. And just like that, the fight was on.

. . . . .

Starro narrowed his eye, clearly intrigued as he telepathically observed what was now going on in regard to the escaped prisoners. "Interesting," he whispered to himself. "Very interesting." He nodded his head, shutting off his telepathy in the process. He had no further need to continue telepathically observing the current battles going on. It was clear that, regardless of who won, the titans were putting up quite a good fight against his forces. And right now, he felt it would be much more polite to let the victors themselves make the results clear by coming straight to him rather then watch it all unfold through vicarious means.

"It may yet be for the best that I've chosen to have myself prepared for the worst," he whispered to himself. "After all, depending on just how credible they yet continue to prove themselves to be, they may very well miraculously be able to defeat Kaldur, La'gaan, their transmogrified teammate, and even my two arguably most powerful acolytes. And if that's the case, it would only be all the better for me to be at my best." He positioned his two 'arms' into position so he could directly gaze at them, nodding in approval at the undeniable signs of how he'd earlier channeled the massive supply of surplus energy he'd absorbed over the course of the countless days he'd spent inside the natural energy generator. He then turned his head to face the area where he'd moved the machine in question. He nodded his head once more. The machine had definitely served its purpose.

Then he let an expression appear in his eye that would have indicated a smug smirk if he'd had a visible mouth on his face. "I suppose I might as well go ahead and activate this little accessory." He directed his gaze up towards where the talismans he had around his 'top limb' were positioned; particularly at the bone white talisman that he'd taken the time to place right above the other two talismans he'd already had before channeling the surplus energy. "After all, in the event the titans _do_ in fact prove victorious in their current battles and reach the point of doing battle with me personally, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I allowed myself to enjoy a good old fashioned bit of theatrics before we commence our duel." His mind made up, he lifted his left 'arm' and tapped on the white talisman twice, activating the charm within.

. . . . .

Robin and Kaldur slashed and hacked at each other with their respective blades. As this happened, Robin found himself ruefully admitting that he'd taken the comparative ease of his earlier duel with Bellimicus for granted. "Good grief," the boy wonder thought to himself as he once again just barely blocked a downward cut from both of Kaldur's water bearer blades at once.

Unfortunately for Robin, Kaldur had been expecting for Robin to parry, and his water bearers turned into whips, which he promptly used to yank Robin's sword upwards. Robin held on tightly, and ended up yanked off the ground, swung over Kaldur, and slammed on the ground on his back behind Kaldur. Robin groaned, his eyes closed, and teeth gritted as he tried to fight off the pain from the landing.

"Give up. You cannot win."

Robin growled, his masked eyes snapping open as his resolve returned. "We'll see about that." He jumped back to his feet, swinging his sword at Kaldur in the process. The Atlantean easily blocked the blow with both water bearers (now back in their sword forms).

"I was expecting that," said Kaldur.

"Were you expecting this?"

Kaldur and Robin had just enough time to turn their heads before the brainwashed Atlantean was blasted to the side by a burst of Cyborg's sonic cannon. He crashed against a nearby wall, groaning from the blast and impact.

"Thanks Cy," said Robin.

"You're welcome," said Cyborg.

At the sound of a harsh scream of rage, Robin and Cyborg turned their heads in time to see Aqualad, water bearers pointing towards the ceiling, his screaming face looking the same way, and his hands and arm tattoos glowing as a large spout of water erupted from the ground underneath him. The two titans had barely even become aware of all this before the spout in question ended up landing right between them, sending them flying in opposite directions from each other. Cyborg and Robin had just started to work on getting back to their feet, groaning and spitting water, when they were forced to hurriedly leap aside even further away from each other to avoid a line of water spouts sent towards each of them, mentally cursing in the process. "Good grief," Robin thought to himself. "And I thought he was already plenty tough when we were merely sword fighting."

He directed a glare towards Kaldur after successfully coming to a stop. "Let's see how he can handle a little heat." He hurled a trio of explosive flame disks Kaldur's way. At the same time, Cyborg fired a missile at Kaldur. Both attacks struck the ground right in front of Kaldur, sending the brainwashed Atlantean flying backward.

Kaldur got back on his feet, groaning from the impact and the lingering heat of the blast, and then noticed Robin and Cyborg rushing towards him, bo staff and metal fists at the ready. Kaldur slammed his water bearers together, a force field of whirling water surrounding him. Then he let loose with his power, causing the orb of water to explode into a whirlpool that slammed into the two titans leaping at him and sent them rocketing away from him.

Both titans slammed, back first, against the rocky wall behind them. Robin crumpled to the ground, groaning in pain. Cyborg, however, proved more resilient, and started running back towards Kaldur. The brainwashed Atlantean narrowed his eyes and pointed his water bearers in Cyborg's direction. The two weapons merged together and took on the form of a flat circle of water. A massive volley of watery orbs burst from this watery circle in rapid fire fashion straight towards Cyborg.

Mentally swearing, Cyborg jumped aside to getting hit, and found himself continuing to run to avoid the continuous burst of watery orbs Kaldur was firing his way. The brainwashed Atlantean kept firing, eager to take out the half robot hero. But as this happened, he completely failed to pay attention to Robin as the boy wonder eventually managed to get back up on his feet.

Robin threw a voltage disk at Kaldur, the Atlantean howling in shock and pain as he was subsequently engulfed in the resulting web of electricity. Robin was already running out of the way in time to dodge when the voltage wore off and Kaldur attempted to blast him with a miniature tidal wave. And this same wave would have been much larger had Kaldur not been blasted aside by Cyborg's sonic cannon while he'd still been in the midst of charging the attack.

Kaldur got back to his feet once more, his water bearers reverting back to the form they'd been in when Robin had thrown the voltage disk, only to then be sent flying aside when Robin used his grappling gun to swing his way across the distance and slam both feet against the Atlantean warrior's side. Kaldur got back to his feet after this attack in time to see Robin now rushing back towards him on foot alongside Cyborg. He hurriedly sent a giant wave of water their way.

Unable to dodge or stop running in time, the two titans shrieked as they were caught in the blast of the wave and carried away. They came to a stop at the edge of the path leading back up to the top of the cliff overlooking the chasm, soaking wet. They managed to get up to a sitting position, only for their eyes to widen at the sight of Kaldur standing in a battle ready posture, but with his water bearers having unexpectedly converted into what looked like a pair of swords with lightning bolts for blades.

"Yo! Why didn't you tell me he could do that?!"

"I . . . I didn't. He couldn't do that before. Maybe it's a new feature?"

"Yah!"

Kaldur thrusted his now electrified water bearers in Robin and Cyborg's direction, bursts of lightning leaping straight towards the incredibly damp ground the two titans were sitting on. The titans' eyes widened again. "Oh dear," said Cyborg.

He and Robin hurriedly activated their respective grappling gear, yanking themselves up into the air in time to avoid getting electrocuted. The soaking wet ground they'd been sitting on, as well as the equally damp wall areas that had been affected by the wave, were engulfed in a maelstrom of electricity. The maelstrom proved so powerful that the walls cracked, and then burst into a veritable avalanche of boulders and rock fragments. It was only sheer luck that neither of the three combatants ended up hit or buried over the course of this accidental avalanche. Once the dust had cleared and the avalanche was over, Robin and Cyborg lowered themselves back down. They looked around once their feet were back on the ground. Where was Kaldur?

The answer was revealed when a large geyser of water suddenly erupted from the center of the massive pile of rocks. The geyser faded, and Kaldur leaped out of the resulting hole. He had used his water bearers to summon a force field of water to prevent himself from getting crushed to death in the avalanche. And now, he was _mad_. With another harsh yell, he caused a second geyser to erupt from the hole he'd leaped from. The water spout then contorted onto itself and took on the shape of a giant serpentine dragon made out of water.

Robin gulped. "Oh boy."

"You said it," Cyborg agreed. Then he looked in Kaldur's direction, and his eyes narrowed as he remembered an important detail Starro had mentioned about the purple star rune tattooed on his chest. "I wonder," he thought to himself. He turned his head to Robin. "Though I think I may have just thought of an idea."

Robin looked at Cyborg, his eyebrow raised. "What's your idea?"

The sound of Kaldur's harsh yell and the water construct's savage roar drew the titans' attention back to their foe just in time for them to see Kaldur send the construct slithering rapidly in their direction.

Cyborg hurriedly turned his head back towards Robin. "I'll distract him! You see if you can sneak up on Kaldur while I keep him and that construct focused on me!"

"What am I supposed to do if I succeed?!"

"Slice him on the chest, right where that tattoo of his is located. But only enough to lightly wound him."

"If you say so."

Robin jumped to his right just in time to avoid getting hit by a jet of water fired from the water construct's mouth. The beast had just turned its head to look in Robin's direction when Cyborg blasted it on the side of its head with his sonic cannon. The creature turned its head to face Cyborg.

"Yeah that's right," Cyborg yelled. "Come and get me!"

Kaldur yelled, and had the monster fire off its breath attack at Cyborg, who jumped aside in time to dodge. Undeterred, he looked back at the construct in time for it to direct its gaze towards him again. "Is that the best you can do?! You can't even hit the side of a barn with marksmanship like that!"

Kaldur let out another harsh yell of rage, the monster roaring and firing off its breath yet again in conjunction with its creator's own scream. And for the next few minutes, Cyborg and Kaldur found themselves in a crazy game of cat and mouse that consisted of Cyborg running, leaping, and dodging the various attacks Kaldur sent his way via the dragon-like water construct. At the same time, Robin carefully snuck his way towards Kaldur while the brainwashed Atlantean miraculously kept his focus solely on Cyborg in his rage.

As Robin continued sneaking over towards Kaldur, he surreptitiously drew out the two birdarangs he'd need to summon his sword. "I _really_ hope that Cyborg knows what he's doing," he thought to himself. He carefully made another few steps, now finding himself incredibly close behind Kaldur. Once he was about two or three steps behind the brainwashed Atlantean, he summoned his sword. "Hey you!"

Kaldur turned his head, a brief shocked look on his face that then turned to narrow eyed rage upon recognizing who was behind him. "You," he snarled as he rapidly turned his entire body to fully face the boy wonder, already positioning himself and his water bearers as needed to strike his attacker. But Robin had already started swinging his sword at the exact same time, and the tip of the blade made a light diagonal slash across the brainwashed Atlantean's chest, bisecting the tattoo and drawing a slight trickle of blood.

Kaldur howled, his head reared up to face the ceiling, his eyes closed, and his entire body starting to suddenly glow with a blinding purple aura. Robin had just enough time for his eyes to widen and gape in surprise at the unexpected reaction from Kaldur when a burst of electricity struck Kaldur from an elevated area behind him.

Within a few minutes, the howling Kaldur lost consciousness from the electrocution combined with the unexpected pain from the minor cut Robin had given to his chest. The water construct he'd summoned had just enough time to let out a final despairing roar before it burst harmlessly into ordinary water, with a particularly large portion of it landing upon Kaldur and further smudging the already marred tattoo on his chest before the unconscious Atlantean collapsed flat on his face. The purple aura faded into nothing not too long afterward. Robin looked up towards where the electricity had come from after it faded away in time to see Cyborg standing in front of the entrance to the cavern while his fingers converted back into their standard form.

"You ok down there?"

Robin nodded. "I'm good." He pointed at Kaldur. "But he might not be. Any idea what just happened here?"

"Well the fact that he's been electrocuted is obvious. But the way he reacted to that small cut you gave him and the glowing he went through?"

He shook his head. "My best guess? The spell on him was fighting to keep hold of him despite the damage to the tattoo while his mind fought back at the same time to free itself." He took another look at the unconscious Kaldur. "Though hopefully now that he's knocked out, any further fighting between his mind and the spell will be able to unfold and get resolved without causing him any pain."

It was in that instant that Robin remembered what Starro had said about the tattoo on Kaldur's chest, and how its power to allow him keep those marked with it under his control for indefinite amounts of time regardless of circumstances would stay in effect as long as the tattoo itself remained intact. "I certainly hope so to," Robin agreed. "And I also hope now that the rune doesn't end up having the ability to restore itself back to full form. I'd hate to have to fight him all over again."

"Let's flip him over and see if we can try to mess up the tattoo a little further before we go check on the others," Cyborg suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Robin agreed.

. . . . .

Beast Boy hurriedly turned into a humming bird and flew away just in time to avoid getting pounded in the stomach by La'gaan's enlarged right fist. The Atlantean warrior turned his head to face Beast Boy's direction and roared angrily with his fist raised in challenge. Beast Boy turned around in midair to face La'gaan, turned into a pteranodon, and screeched at the Atlantean.

La'gaan swung his fists left and right at the green pterosaur, hissing and snarling the entire time while Beast Boy kept himself flying out of the Atlantean's reach and kicked at his opponent with his taloned feet while also occasionally attempting to peck La'gaan with his beak. Eventually, he managed to grab La'gaan by the right 'ear', drag him off balance, and send him falling face down on the cavern floor. Giving La'gaan no time to recover from this, the shapeshifter turned into a hippo while still above the Atlantean, slamming down hard upon his opponent's back and leaving him pinned to the floor.

As La'gaan started struggling and snarling from underneath Beast Boy the hippo, a syringe encased in shadowy energy suddenly jabbed into the side of his neck and started emptying its contents into him. "Let's see if this calms you down," Raven thought to herself as she concentrated on getting the entirety of her syringe's worth of elixir into La'gaan's system. Once the syringe was empty, Raven removed it from La'gaan's neck and cast it aside.

The elixir, unfortunately, seemed not to have any immediate effect on the Atlantean, who roared and thrashed around savagely in rage. Seconds later, with a slam of both of his fists, he managed to buck Beast Boy off of his back, at which point he leaped back on his feet and slammed his left fist into Beast Boy's stomach while the changeling was still in the air, sending the green hippo flying away towards the back wall of the cavern. La'gaan roared, and prepared to charge towards Beast Boy, only to then rear up and howl as he suddenly found himself engulfed in a web of electricity. Raven had used her powers to levitate a massive amount of the crystals providing light and slammed them against La'gaan's back.

When the electricity faded away, La'gaan collapsed onto his hands and knees, panting, gasping, and snarling from the pain. While in this incapacitated state, La'gaan failed to react in time to stop Beast Boy, who was now charging straight towards him while in pachycephalosaurus mode, from reaching him. The dinosaur rammed La'gaan right in the face, sending the mind altered Atlantean crashing onto his back.

La'gaan shook his head side to side, hissing in discomfort from getting rammed in the face, only to then shriek in surprise when Raven encased him in shadowy energy and rocketed him up into slamming face-first against the ceiling of the cavern. She dismissed her powers, sending La'gaan free falling back towards the cavern floor, only to then be sent flying into a wall after getting hit on the back by the tail of Beast Boy's ankylosaurus form.

The Atlantean warrior was still in the midst of recovering from crashing against the wall when Beast Boy reverted back to human form, leaped upon his back, and then turned into a giant pacific octopus and wrapped his tentacles around La'gaan's neck, body, and arms. La'gaan roared, and attempted to punch Beast Boy. But the changeling's grip was strong enough for the Atlantean's arm to be redirected so that he ended up punching himself in the face instead.

La'gaan howled in pain and rage as he continued unwillingly punching himself with his own fist under Beast Boy's grip. The changeling silently extended one of his free tentacles towards Raven. Raven, having already been prepared for this signal, summoned Beast Boy's own syringe of elixir back from the pocket dimension where she'd originally been keeping her own. She sent it levitating into the changeling's outstretched tentacle, and the green octopus jammed it into La'gaan's neck, emptying its contents immediately afterward.

La'gaan roared, seemingly only annoyed by the sensation of the elixir attempting to undo the spell on his mind. As this happened, Beast Boy found himself increasingly worried and annoyed. "Good grief, why is this stuff not working?"

La'gaan growled, jumped backwards, and sandwiched Beast Boy between his back and the ground when he landed. This jarring impact and squeezing against the ground was enough to surprise Beast Boy into reverting back to human form, releasing the Atlantean warrior from his grip in the process. The Atlantean got back to his feet, turned around to face the groaning changeling, and lifted his right foot to stomp on his opponent's face.

Beast Boy had just enough time to realize what was about to happen, and for his eyes to widen, before he was suddenly encased in shadowy energy and yanked away backwards in time to avoid getting stomped on. La'gaan roared in rage at the sight of this, and of his stomp attack harmlessly striking the now empty grown, only to then be blasted backwards by a burst of shadowy lightning.

With La'gaan temporarily out of the picture, Raven helped Beast Boy back to his feet.

"Thanks Rae." The shapeshifter looked in La'gaan's direction. "Man, I was so sure that would work."

"He must have developed some form of immunity to it." Raven looked at Beast Boy, who was now gazing at her in curiosity. "He's been under the abyssals' custody for at least a year now, and they've been constantly giving him small dosages of the elixir to keep him at a controllable level of rage. It would only make sense that, with all the time that's gone by since his capture and the spell's initial casting, a dosage that would have cured him back then would be insignificant now."

Beast Boy mentally cursed. How had he not thought of that? "Well this complicates things."

"Indeed. But it won't make saving him impossible. If we can just hold him in place and keep him from attacking us long enough, I'm positive I can access his mind and break the spell from there."

The sound of a roar and running feet coming towards them drew their attention to where La'gaan had been sent flying, just in time to see him charging towards them. "We'll certainly have a whale of a time achieving that," said Beast Boy.

"No kidding," Raven agreed. "Move!"

The two chromatically challenged titans jumped aside, each in a different direction, and La'gaan charged harmlessly past them, skidding to a stop with an angry snarl. He jumped, turning a complete 180 degrees in the process, and roared at the two titans.

Raven and Beast Boy winced, and shook their heads side to side. This was definitely going to be a difficult battle for them. Then Beast Boy happened to turn his head to look behind him, and his eyes widened as he took note of an environmental detail that he hadn't noticed before, and now seemed quite useful.

"I've got an idea."

Raven raised her eyebrow. "That was awfully quick."

"I know. But I mean it."

Raven initially remained uncertain, but then a roar from La'gaan convinced her to give her team mate the benefit of the doubt. "What do you plan to do?"

"There's an area of these caverns I just noticed," Beast Boy explained. "I'm going to try to lead him to that area. When he and I are both in there, I'm gonna see if I can get him cornered. On my signal, I want you to restrain him with your powers after I have him cornered. That should keep him occupied long enough for me to get ahold of him so that you can do your thing and free him from that spell he's under."

"If you say so. But I hope you know what you're doing."

La'gaan roared again, and then charged once more towards the chromatically challenged duo. Raven melted into the shadows and Beast Boy turned into a falcon and flew right over the charging Atlantean. La'gaan roared, skidded to a stop, and turned around to pursue the changeling.

The resulting chase came to a stop in the cavern Beast Boy had intended to lead La'gaan into. The shapeshifter flew towards the cavern's ceiling, which happened to be considerably higher in this area then in all the other areas within the abyssal living space caverns. The Atlantean roared, his red eyes blazing with fury at the sight of his target seemingly getting away, and he crouched as if about to try to jump and climb up the walls.

That was when Beast Boy transformed into a t-rex. La'gaan had just enough time for his eyes to widen in surprise before Beast Boy landed right in front of him, roaring savagely in challenge. La'gaan gaped at the dinosaur that now stood before him, briefly caught off guard. But then his eyes narrowed, he snarled, and he clenched his fists, growling and slavering as if to say, 'bring it'.

La'gaan lunged towards Beast Boy, his fists at the ready to slam into the t-rex's face. The changeling swung his tail, smacking La'gaan away and sending the Atlantean crashing against a cavern wall behind him. The dinosaur roared at the briefly downed La'gaan as if challenging him to continue fighting. La'gaan snarled, got back to his feet, and beat his chest with his clenched fists. Challenge accepted.

The two combatants charged at each other. La'gaan snarled and swung his fists left and right while Beast Boy roared and snapped his teeth at thin air. They clashed together, with Beast Boy slamming his head against La'gaan while the Atlantean grabbed the changeling by the sides of his face and pushed against him. Beast Boy lifted his head and started swinging it around, the snarling La'gaan tightly gripping onto two of the mighty dinosaur's fangs as he was swung around through the air.

La'gaan bite Beast Boy on the snout. The changeling roared, abruptly lowered his head, and then just as abruptly reared it upwards. La'gaan caught of guard into loosening his grip by the abrupt lowering of Beast Boy's head, was sent rocketing towards the cavern ceiling by the subsequent upwards swing. His back slammed against the roof, and he then plummeted back towards the floor, groaning in pain; only to then be sent flying off right into a wall by a swing of Beast Boy's tail.

The changeling roared; his t-rex eyes narrowed as he stared straight at the once again temporarily downed La'gaan. The Atlantean snarled, clenched his fists against the rocky floor, and straightened laboriously back to his feet. He snapped his fists in the air, roaring right back at Beast Boy in challenge.

Unfortunately for La'gaan, he was now exactly where the shapeshifter had wanted him. Beast Boy shifted back to human form and briefly looked to his side. "Now!"

Before La'gaan could react, he was suddenly encased all the way up to the base of his neck in shadowy energy. He snarled and hissed in shock at this development and struggled to free the rest of his body. He eventually looked right in the direction his opponent had looked before the appearance of the energy that now bound him, and then roared savagely at the sight of Raven hovering nearby with her hands and eyes glowing as she worked to keep him in place.

Then La'gaan felt a pair of strong furry arms wrap around him from behind, and he howled in rage as he realized that Beast Boy had just now subjected him to further restraint by giving him a hug while in sasquatch mode. The green cryptid primate snarled, and tightened his embrace as much as he could against the hissing and thrashing Atlantean.

Raven levitated towards Beast Boy and La'gaan, eyes and hands still glowing as she prepared herself for accessing the Atlantean warrior's mind. "Hold him tight Beast Boy," she grunted. "I'll need to divert some of the power I'm using in his restraints in order to have the strength to break the spell he's under." The green sasquatch grunted as if to indicate that he understood, and the sorceress placed her glowing hands on the sides of La'gaan's head.

La'gaan snapped his red eyes shut and howled, an agonized mixture of rage and terror as he felt Raven's mental presence enter his mind. He started struggling even more furiously, the slight reduction in the strength of his restraints allowing him to put up much more of a fight then he'd been putting up before. Beast Boy grunted, gritting his teeth as he worked desperately to keep a firm grip on La'gaan and prevent him from escaping his grasp before Raven could finish freeing him from the abyssals' spell.

Raven thoroughly made her way through La'gaan's mind, observing every inch, memorizing every detail, and most importantly moving as fast as she could. She knew that Beast Boy would not be able to keep hold of La'gaan forever, and that she herself would use up more and more of her own power the longer she spent inside La'gaan's mind. If this plan was to succeed, then she needed to finish her current task as fast as possible.

She found the main root of where the spell had taken hold in La'gaan's mind. She latched her mind onto it, pouring as much power as she could into her efforts at loosening its hold and dispelling it from existence. Her mind suddenly seemed to feel a boiling heat as La'gaan's mind reacted defensively against both the foreign presence in his mind as well as the discomfort of what that presence was now trying to do. Gritting her teeth and fighting to stay focused, Raven redoubled her efforts.

La'gaan roared again, now sounding even more pained and enraged than before. It took all of Beast Boy's strength in sasquatch mode, plus what remained of Raven's energy restraints to keep the humanoid fish from escaping their grasp. The giant green cryptid ape gritted its teeth. "I hope you know what you're doing Rae, and that you get this done soon. I doubt I'll be able to hold him too much longer if you don't."

Raven gritted her own teeth, still fighting with everything she had to break the spell before she lost all her energy and unwillingly allowed La'gaan to escape. Her effort so far was not in vain. She was getting close. All she had to do was hang in there for just a few more seconds, and La'gaan would be free. "Almost, almost," she thought to herself, now fighting with all her willpower to stay focused and conscious as La'gaan's own mind put up an increasingly stronger effort at ejecting her. Finally, right as she found herself at especially high risk of completely dispelling La'gaan's energy restraints just to avoid losing consciousness and getting ejected from the Atlantean's mind, she managed to erase the last spark of what remained of the abyssal spell. "Got it," she thought to herself as she promptly exited La'gaan's mind, dispelling the energy restraints she'd placed upon him in the process.

La'gaan roared in agony, his eyes agleam as he felt the mind altering magic in his mind forcefully depart, giving him a splitting headache in the process. Beast Boy undid his embrace around the Atlantean, shifting back to human form in the process. La'gaan slammed his hands against the sides of his head the instant his arms were free, clenching his eyes shut as he swung his head side to side and continued to roar and snarl in pain from the forceful breaking of the spell on his mind.

Raven and Beast Boy hovered back as far as they dared so as to avoid being within reach in the event that La'gaan started violently thrashing around. Sure enough, La'gaan indeed did start violently flailing and trashing about, his arms wildly swinging around as he desperately tried to somehow relieve himself of the devastating pain he was feeling in his mind. He stumbled over to a wall, slammed his head against it, and then started punching at it left and right, causing several cracks and severe structural damages to ensue as he continued to roar and snarl in rage and pain.

Eventually, right as Beast Boy and Raven were starting to wonder if they should either shield themselves from a potential ceiling collapse or directly intervene to see if they could stop La'gaan from causing damage, the Atlantean warrior reared his head up to face the ceiling and let out a final particular agonized and angry sounding roar. In that instant, Raven decided the whole tableau had gone on long enough, and she melted into the shadows. She reappeared upon La'gaan's shoulders, her hands glowing with black energy. She slammed them against the sides of La'gaan's head, releasing the energy into him. La'gaan abruptly stopped roaring, his red eyes widened in surprise. Then he gurgled groggily, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he collapsed to the floor, completely out cold.

Raven teleported back to Beast Boy, who now looked confused. "Um, what did you just do?"

"I knocked him out." Raven gestured towards the now unconscious La'gaan. "He should wake up within at least a quarter of an hour, more then enough time for his mind to finish shaking off the effects of finally being released from that spell."

"Ok." Beast Boy glanced at La'gaan, and then back at Raven. "Any reason you couldn't have done that immediately after you broke the spell?"

"I didn't want to risk using up any more energy then I already had breaking the spell," Raven explained. "Especially since I could very well need to conserve the energy I currently still have for when we go up against Starro. But I decided to knock him out now because by this point, it seemed like he was in just too much agony for me to let him keep undergoing the sudden end of the spell while still conscious."

"Is there a way you could speed up his mind's recovery?"

"Not without risking either wasting even more energy that I could need against Starro, or worse, accidentally breaking his mind and leaving him catatonic as a result of my magic in his mind clashing with the remnants of the old spell _and_ the fact that his mind is still weakened from being under that spell for at least a year's worth of time."

Beast boy silently whistled. "Ok yeah, that would definitely be bad."

Raven nodded. "We're just going to have to leave him here for now. Hopefully he can help us out when he wakes up."

"Should we make sure that the abyssals don't do anything to him if they wake up first?"

Raven thought to herself. "I suppose that's a fair point." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Let's hope the energy I'm about to use for this doesn't turn out to be needed for Starro." She raised her hands, now glowing with black energy. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." What looked like straps of rock rose from the floor and wrapped around the multiple unconscious abyssals and Starro clones, pinning them inescapably to the cavern floor. "There, now La'gaan should have no need to worry about getting placed back under any spells if the enemy wake up before him."

She looked back at Beast Boy. "Come on. Let's see if the others need our help."

. . . . .

Starfire slammed against one of the cavern's walls, panting and gasping from the pain of the blast of lightning and shadow energy she'd just gotten hit with, completely unaware of the syringe she'd had in her skirt pocket getting jolted out by the impact until she heard it shatter. She panted and gasped, mentally cursing upon hearing the shattering syringe, and only just barely rolled aside to avoid getting hit by a second round of such blasts. The effort was enough for to collapse onto her knees immediately afterward, panting and gasping once more.

"I will admit, you certainly are putting up an admirable fight."

Starfire turned her head, a glare on her face as she gazed at Janos. The black scaled abyssal acolyte nodded his head. "I was indeed a fool to underestimate you earlier on account of how easily I'd captured you before. I'm certain that if I didn't have my colleague assisting me, you'd probably have already won by now. It's almost a shame that you're inevitably going to lose."

The Tamaranean princess growled, her fists blazing with star bolt energy. "That's what you think!" With an inarticulate scream of rage, she sent a jet of star bolt fire flying at Janos, sending the acolyte flying backward.

Terra, meanwhile, skidded to a stop, her arms raised defensively in front of her face as a result of having just finished defending herself against a spout of water that her transmogrified boyfriend had spat at her. The geomancer lowered her arms, eyes glaring and a silent snarl on her face, and then summoned a small boulder that she then stomp kicked in her opponent's direction.

The transmogrified Garth ducked, the summoned boulder sailing harmlessly over him. He leaped back to his feet, summoned an orb of water in his palms, and hurled it Terra's direction. Terra summoned an earth barrier in front of her, shielding herself from the blast. She lowered the barrier, lifted her now glowing left fist, and slammed it against the cavern flow. The energy on her fist poured into the ground and caused a massive wave of stalagmites to start erupting from the ground in her opponent's direction. The transmogrified Aqualad roared, summoning a whirlpool around himself that rapidly expanded, shattering all the stalagmites and rushed swiftly towards Terra. The geomancer hurriedly summoned a flying rock transport and levitated herself clear of the area of affect.

Grunting and snarling from effort, Starfire hurled a volley of starbolts, her two opponents shooting bolts of lightning and orbs of darkness towards her in response. The orbs of darkness were easily blasted to nothing by the starbolts, but the lightning bolts proved an obstacle that the Tamaranean princess was always forced to dodge. It took all her willpower not to pant and gasp from how much effort and energy she was putting into this fight. She had noticed that Janos seemed to be always favoring use of shadow spells over the course of the current battle. Perhaps maybe he preferred to save any other form of spells for ambush purposes, such as the case with the ice and sleep spells he'd used when he'd captured her before, while devoting shadow spells to being his primary attack style. As she had noticed during this battle, this strategy was a bad choice against her, as her starbolts and eye beams could easily blast through all of his shadowy attacks. But unfortunately for her, the weaknesses in Janos's shadow magic based attack style were currently being fairly well balanced out by the comparative strengths in the lightning magic based attack style that Omoros was using. She gritted her teeth. If she could just somehow get Omoros taken care of, then just maybe she'd still have a fighting chance of taking out Janos without using too much further energy then she'd already spent. Of course, the question was just _how_ she'd get Omoros out of the picture.

The two acolytes both joined in to blast her with a powerful combined attack, with Omoros firing a maelstrom of lightning from both hands while Janos clasped his wrists together and conjoined two separate streams of shadow fire into a singular giant jet of shadowy flames. Gritting her teeth, Starfire sent a similarly conjoined dual stream of starbolt fire at the giant energy blasts the acolytes were sending her way. The energy blasts clashed together in the very middle of the air between them, forming a giant conjoined beam as the three blasts dueled for dominance.

Meanwhile, the transmogrified Aqualad rammed his scaly fists on the floor in an alternating left and right pattern, causing multiple geysers of water to spout out of the cavern floor all around him. Terra moved her floating rock transport every which way she could to dodge, but then gulped and started slowing down in her transport's movement when she finally noticed that none of the geysers were stopping. This moment of slowing down proved to be a mistake, as one more geyser ended up erupting directly underneath her, blasting the flying rock to smithereens and sending her falling to the floor with a scream, followed by a thud as she landed. "Oof," she grunted upon impact.

She managed to get to her feet, only for her eyes to widen in surprise at the sight of the transformed Aqualad causing all the water from the geysers to conjoin together into a giant aerial whirlpool that he sent rapidly spinning around in the air above him. When she noticed a slight movement from him that indicated he would soon unleash an attack with all that water, the geomancer hurriedly started concentrating, an idea already swiftly formulated that she knew would require concentration and an unfortunately necessary larger expenditure of energy then she'd given for all of her other individual attacks so far in order for it to work. Aqualad caused the entirety of the aerial whirlpool to conjoin into a giant hovering stream of water, hissed viciously at Terra as if challenging her to stop this upcoming attack, and then sent it rocketing towards her with a thrust of both of his scaly hands.

Gritting her teeth and almost growling from the effort it took, she managed to summon a shield-sized glob of mud. Just in time for the gigantic aerial jet of water to plow straight into it, 'feeding' the glob and causing it to start rapidly expanding to an even larger size. Aqualad was so focused on trying to stubbornly take Terra out with his currently quite ineffective attack that he continued sending it spouting into the rapidly growing mass of mud. The geomancer simultaneously worked to gradually raise the expanding mass of mud high above her.

It wasn't until the last of the watery attack had entered into the mass of mud that the transformed Aqualad finally seemed to realize just how seriously he'd failed to take the geomancer out. And when he subsequently looked up after catching a glimpse of mud out of the top corner of his eye, his initially confused scaly face took on a look of first shock, and then fear, as he subsequently cringed and started slowly taking steps backwards in fear at the sight of the giant whirlpool of mud that was now spinning around in the air above his opponent. Terra remained standing where she was, a calm expression on her face as her eyes glowed, and both of her similarly glowing hands raised in the air as she let the muddy whirlpool rage and swirl around above her. Eventually, right as her now quite unnerved looking transmogrified boyfriend started getting especially close to getting his own back pressed against one of the cavern walls as he backed away from her, she thrusted her hands down and forwards towards him, sending the giant mass of mud flying straight at him. The young abyssal hissed and shrieked as he was engulfed in the mud and slammed against the cavern wall behind him.

Terra clenched her fists and concentrated further, causing all the mud to solidify, leaving her transmogrified boyfriend sealed all the way up to his neck in impressively strong and solid dirt. He hissed and howled in rage, his eyes blazing with fury as he thrashed and jerked his head around in a desperate attempt to bust himself out, too apoplectic and consumed with anger to think to try to use his hydrokinesis to wash away the dirt that now restrained him. And as this happened, Terra hurriedly ran straight towards him, preparing herself for what she planned to do next.

The encased abyssal saw Terra running towards him, roared in her direction, and let out a burst of his water breath. The geomancer had already expected this, and she jumped in time to sail clean over the attack, doing a triple front flip in the process. As she found herself very close in proximity to her opponent on her way down, she grabbed him by the cranial fin right when she at the right position, using her grip and the momentum of her fall to swing herself into position so that she was technically seated right on his shoulders with his head between her legs. In a flash, she had drawn out her syringe from her pants pocket and jabbed it into the appropriate area on the transmogrified Aqualad's neck. "Please be enough," she thought to herself as she emptied the syringe into her boyfriend's bloodstream.

Starfire was currently not faring well. She had her eyes closed and teeth gritted as she tried desperately to push back with her starbolt jet against her opponents' conjoined energy blasts even though those same blasts currently had her inches away from losing their insane reverse game of tug of war. The two acolytes fighting her chuckled and hissed maliciously in pleasure as their combined attack continued to get closer and closer to overwhelming the Tamaranean's own singular blast.

"This is going perfectly," Omoros thought to himself. "With the Tamaranean having lost that obvious syringe of charm dispelling elixir not too long ago and sure to fall any second now to our might, victory will surely be ours. . ."

"AWR!"

Omoros's amber eyes widened, and he turned his head in the direction this unexpected noise had come from. His eyes narrowed, and he mentally cursed at what he saw. As caught up in the moment as he'd become, he'd completely forgotten about Terra's own duel against Aqualad going on at the same time. And now he realized too late that she'd been in possession of another syringe of charm dispelling elixir, a syringe that had now been completely emptied into the transmogrified Garth's bloodstream.

Aqualad shrieked in apparent agony, slamming his hands on the sides of his head the instant Terra dismissed the dusty restraints seconds later. He stumbled forward, thrashing and writhing his head side to side as he howled from the effects of the potion that had transformed him being forcibly undone. As Terra watched, half relieved and half concerned, the clearly affected abyssal she'd been fighting collapsed onto his side, at which point he began to continue writhing, thrashing, and tossing and turning. Omoros also watched, becoming increasingly furious in the process, completely unaware of how the lightning maelstrom he was firing from his hands was starting to slightly decrease in its power and intensity; something that Janos _did_ notice, and found himself directing a worried side glance towards his superior over. Eventually, much to Terra's horrified surprise and Omoros's rage, the younger abyssal abruptly snapped into a position in which his feet and head were positioned to allow himself to form an archway shape, letting an earsplitting roar of agony erupt from his jaws. In the process, the entirety of his abyssal form shrank into him and faded away into the familiar form of how he'd been before his unwilling transformation, his agonized roar similarly transitioning from an animalistic reptilian screech to a more human-like scream. Once the transformation was complete, Aqualad stopped screaming, and then collapsed on his back, clearly out cold, but alive, and most importantly no longer an abyssal.

Terra lifted her right fist in the air in a victory pose, her blue eyes agleam with joy. "YES!"

"NO!"

Terra, eyes widened in surprise, jerked her head in the direction this shout had come from, and then mentally gulped at the sight of the now apoplectic Omoros directing a _murderous_ bestial glare her direction while still keeping his lightning bursts active.

"THAT POTION WAS DESIGNED TO ONLY SUCCESSFULLY WORK ON ANY INDIVIDUAL TARGET A SINGLE TIME," Omoros howled. "I FINALLY HAD ZATH'S NEPHEW ON OUR SIDE LIKE HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALL THOSE YEARS AGO, AND NOW YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING! BY ZATH, I'LL KILL YOU!"

Without warning, he snapped his hands in Terra's direction, his lightning maelstrom snapping into the geomancer's direction as well, breaking apart from Janos' shadow fire jet in the process. Terra hurriedly jumped aside just in time to avoid getting hit by Omoros's blast. While she'd managed to develop a strong resistance to electricity very similar to that of her older brother Geo-Force in the months that had followed her last encounter with him, she also knew that getting hit by the lightning bolts Omoros was currently firing at her could still at least knock her off her feet or slam her against one of the cavern walls. Omoros howled, now mindless with rage, and moved his hands to keep up with the geomancer, starting to run towards her at the same time.

Janos's eyes widened in horror at the sight of his superior running after Terra. "Omoros wait!" he yelled in vain as the lead acolyte started chasing after the geomancer. He mentally cursed. Now he was in trouble. As much as their combined attack had started to show slight signs of weakening when Omoros had begun to pay more attention to what was going on with Zath's nephew and the geomancer, the black acolyte was all too aware that his own defeat would be all but guaranteed now that he had only his own power to rely upon against Starfire. And sure enough, Starfire's starbolt jet was now already starting to show signs of decreased difficulty in pushing against the shadowy flames.

Omoros abruptly sent the lightning coming from his right hand flying at the ceiling above the floor tile three feet from where Terra was heading, causing a small cave in. Terra, caught off guard and unable to use her powers on it in time, was forced to skid to a halt, landing on her backside in the process, in order to avoid getting crushed. The sound of a snarl from nearby the rubble of the cave in caused Terra to turn her head in time to see Omoros lunging in the air towards her with his right fist raised to strike her, and she rolled aside in time to avoid getting hit. Then she had to jump backwards to avoid a subsequent attempt by Omoros to slash at her with his left hand claws.

The two continued playing their deadly game, with Terra constantly dodging and occasionally blocking or counterattacking while Omoros continued to attempt to strike her with his fists, feet, fangs, claws, and tail. "Good grief," Terra hissed, ducking her head to avoid getting smacked in the face by the yellow acolyte's tail. "What is your problem?!" She had to jump backwards again to avoid falling victim to her opponent's subsequent attempt to bite her in the throat. "Well, aside from the obvious anyway."

"Thanks to you, Zath's nephew is no longer one of us, and can never be one of us ever again," Omoros hissed, as if this explained everything.

"So? You already have plenty of other abyssals on your side long past being changed back by that elixir! What's the problem with having just one be changed back and lost to you?"

"You don't understand," Omoros roared. "Zath himself had chosen Garth to be his key to returning home from the dimension he'd been banished to! Garth was practically his heir in all but name! He was even able to successfully fulfil the destiny that Zath had entrusted to him before his birth! He should have been one of us! Leading us even in Zath's place! And we'd finally managed to get him in the position to do exactly that despite how he'd wasted his previous chance after fulfilling his destiny to bring Zath back; but now, thanks to you, he's been denied to us all over again! And now we may never get him back! And it could take years for us to find another worthy bearer of Zath's bloodline to take instead in the event Garth marries and has children of his own! And that's without considering the possibility of their being tainted from being half breeds like King Orrin in the event that _you_ turn out to be the one he marries and has children with!"

"Well wake up and smell the roses scumbag," Terra snarled, eyes now narrowed and glowing yellow with rage. "Because news flash, you and Zath had your chance, and now he's gone, and this time for good. And he's been like that for the last 3-4 years! You should have realized that and moved on after he was defeated and taken down once and for all by Garth and Aquaman! And chasing after Garth or anyone else who inherits his power to serve as a replacement for Zath isn't going to change anything!"

"We'll see about that _whelp_ ," Omoros growled. He jerked his hands upward, pointing his clawed fingers in her direction, and sending lightning bursting out at her from all ten of them.

But Terra had been prepared for this, and with an inarticulate scream of rage, she fired a conjoined beam of yellow energy from her hands. The beam of geokinetic energy collided with Omoros's maelstrom of finger lightning in the exact middle of the space between them, and the two elementalists snarled as they proceeded to have their conjoined attacks duel for dominance.

At the same time this was happening, Starfire was panting in half exhaustion and half relief as her own duel continued to become increasingly one-sided in her favor. Janos cursed under his breath as, despite his valiant effort, his shadowy blast got pushed back further and further towards him by his Tamaranean opponent's own energy blast. Eventually, when it became clear that Starfire was seconds away from completely overwhelming him, he dismissed his attack and formed a shadowy forcefield around himself in a final last ditch attempt to defend himself from the blast.

Starfire gritted her teeth in half triumph and half annoyance. "Why do you still try to delay the inevitable? It has become quite the clear that you are the matched out without your comrade's assistance."

Janos hissed, his amber eyes burning with hate as he desperately tried to keep his already cracking shadowy shield intact. "You can't stop us," he snarled. "Even if you defeat me now, you'll stand no chance against the star!"

"Well it is the too bad that you won't be awake to see that," Starfire stated, her starbolt jet suddenly intensifying in its power. The shadow shield Janos was desperately trying to block it was suddenly afflicted with a giant spiderweb of cracks, green light from the starbolt jet already starting to shine through. Janos turned his head away with his eyes closed, howling in half fear and half agony from the blazing heat and blinding light before his shadowy shield finally exploded into nothing, leaving him engulfed by the starbolt blast as it crashed into him and plowed him up against the cavern wall behind him with a booming impact and impressive explosion of green starbolt fire. When the blast faded away, the now quite charred up and out cold Janos was revealed to be pressed, back first, against the wall with his limbs akimbo. The unconscious acolyte let out a weak hiss, and then fell to the cavern floor with a thud, completely out cold.

At the same time this was happening, the duel between Terra and Omoros was similarly starting to fly very rapidly in Terra's favor as, much to the lead abyssal acolyte's surprise and slight fear, his devastating maelstrom of finger lightning lost more and more ground against the conjoined geokinetic energy blast being fired by his geomancer opponent. "You are a geomancer! And not even an Atlantean one! How is this possible!?"

"Water may be my natural weakness element," Terra growled. "But with the element you choose to wield in combat instead of water, your natural affinity to water means nothing. For all electrokinetics should know quite well that lightning holds no terror against the power of the earth!"

With a final guttural cry of rage, her powerful attack plowed its way across what little distance remained between it and Omoros. The blinding yellow energy engulfed Omoros, who suddenly bent over, his lightning attack shut off, and started hissing and snarling as if he were in pain. Then his head suddenly reared up, eyes open and blinding light shining from his eyes and mouth. He had just enough time to roar out an agonized despairing "NO!" before the yellow light shining from his eyes and mouth and likewise engulfing the rest of his body suddenly expanded into a giant flash of light that momentarily left the acolyte completely obscured from view. Terra even found herself shutting off her attack, closing her eyes, and yanking the backs of her hands in front of her face to shield herself from the light, shutting off her energy beams in the process.

When the light finally faded away, and she heard what sounded like hardening stone and Omoros unleashing a series of almost strangled sounding squawks and croaks, Terra opened her eyes and lowered her hands in time to gape in stunned silence at the astonishing sight of Omoros, clawed hands raised futilely towards the cavern ceiling and his face now becoming forever frozen in an expression of half shock and half despair, turning to stone. After about a minute, with Terra still gaping in shock at the completely unexpected affect of her energy attack on him, Omoros fully transitioned into a stone statue with a final strangulated squawking croak.

The silence that followed was eventually broken by a surprised, "Terra, did you . . .?"

Terra turned her head, still clearly shocked, towards a similarly stunned Starfire. "It would appear that I, completely without intending to, managed to turn someone to stone."

"Well that's new."

Starfire and Terra turned their heads, Terra's eyes widening in stunned joy at the sight of Aqualad now conscious and clearly working with great effort to get back on his feet. "Gah," he groaned. "Whatever you did to change me back, it really appears to have taken a lot out of me."

Terra ran up to her Atlantean boyfriend, giving him a very forceful hug. Aqualad was briefly stunned and almost completely knocked back onto the ground entirely by his girlfriend's hug. But then he managed to regain his shaky footing, and return her embrace.

"It's so great to have you back," Terra said, her tone half joyful and half shaky enough to indicate her being on the verge of tears.

Aqualad nodded, a solemn look of agreement and love on his own face. "I couldn't agree more." He looked briefly over to Starfire, Terra doing the same. "What about the others?"

Starfire gestured towards the cavern's exit. "Come friends. We must see if the others are alright."

"I sure hope they are." Terra rammed her left fist into her right palm, a determined look on her face. "Because if they're finished with whatever forces got sent after them, then its high time we somehow give that high and mighty alien starfish a serious can of butt kicking."

 **And just like that, chapter finished. Boy I had a lot going on in this chapter. That in mind, sorry if anyone finds this more than a little too long (yeah, I now can't help but realize now how I could have easily removed that earlier banquet filler chapter in favor of splitting this here chapter in two if I had planned things slightly better and not ended up already posting said filler chapter before this point. Oh well, hindsight's always 20/20 right?). That in mind, regardless of your thoughts about it being too long or not, I hope you all found a decent amount to enjoy in this chapter, and that you leave a decent amount of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of 1 review to be received for this particular chapter before I allow the next completed chapter to be posted). Again, hope you enjoyed! And that in mind, if either of you are a fan of Kaiju or similarly feel in the mood for a good ol' fashioned giant monster movie, feel free to give Godzilla: King of the Monsters a shot! (Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra emit their respective vocalizations in unison in the background.) You said it guys. (Ghidora: Bidibidibidibidibidibidibidibidibidibidi)**

 **Coming up Next: The time has finally come for the titans to do battle against Starro himself. How shall** ** _this_** **battle unfold? And at the same time, how shall Aquaman and the rest of the forces of Poseidonis fare against Trident and his forces as what currently appears to be shaping up to be the final battle between these two armies to unfold at the same time as the titanic (pun intended) clash against Starro? Find out next time, on The Enemy Below!**


	16. Rock and a Hard Place

**Hey ya'll! Hope you all enjoyed 4th of July celebrations yesterday and that you're ready for yet more titanic awesomeness, because here's a new chapter! In this chapter, the time has finally come for the titans to do battle with Starro. And at the same time this battle is unfolding, the final clash between Trident, Aquaman, and their forces ensues. How shall this all unfold? Only one way to find out! Here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, just to remind you all again, I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC based. That being said, onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 15:**

 **Rock and a Hard Place**

Aqualad and the two princesses couldn't have felt more relieved when they reached the 'intersection' chamber and saw their four fellow titans already there waiting for them. Terra was quick to smile and give a 'thumbs up' when she saw Beast Boy notice her arrival. "I take it you guys all got out alright?"

"Sure did dudes," the changeling instantly responded.

"Heck of a challenge ya'll," Cyborg agreed. "But yep, we made it out alive."

"Good to have you back Aqualad," said Robin.

"Couldn't agree more," said Aqualad.

The Atlantean winced briefly, placing a hand against his forehead as if suffering from a headache. "I'm ok," he reassured his girlfriend and friends. "Just still need time to regain my strength. Don't know why, but that stuff you used to change me back _really_ took a lot of me."

"If it weren't for how much energy it could potentially cost me and the fact that we still have an upcoming battle against Starro to worry about, I'd be more than willing to try to heal you," said Raven.

"It's alright," said Aqualad. He nodded his head. "As long as I don't overexert myself to much, I may yet still be able to do a little fighting while still working to conserve my energy and recover at the same time."

"Depending on what happens down where that psycho starfish is," Cyborg began, "you may not even have to worry about that."

"He's right," Robin pointed out. He gestured towards the tunnel marked with the wave engraving. "Judging by where Raven detected all those soldiers we just battled coming from before we fought them, Starro's probably down that tunnel, and from what Beast Boy told us, there's a pool of water in the cavern that tunnel leads to."

Aqualad and the other titans all looked towards the tunnel in question. "Huh," said Aqualad. "Now that you mention it, I do remember a pool of water being in that cavern from the bit of time I spent in there while I was an abyssal." He nodded his head. "If I were to somehow end up inside that pool over the course of the coming confrontation, it would probably speed up my recovery immensely."

"Sounds like an awesome idea to me," said Beast Boy.

"Assuming Starro will let him anywhere near that water," Raven droned.

"We may be able to allow Aqualad to reach it if we keep Starro focused on us," Robin suggested.

"Won't we still have to deal with that whole invincibility unless attacked by a friend thing he's got going for him?" Cyborg asked.

"Isn't that not only a result of that one particular talisman he has on him?" Starfire asked.

"In which case, first priority is to somehow remove that talisman," Robin suggested. "And maybe the one that's giving him that boost in his natural mind control powers as well while we're at it."

"You make it sound _so_ easy," Raven droned.

"It won't be a walk in the park, I'll admit to that."

The boy wonder nodded his head. "But as long as we can last against him long enough to remove at least that one particular talisman from him, it should be somewhat easy enough to zap him into submission. And once that's done, we might still have time to figure out a way to get to Atlantis in time to provide some long overdue assistance against Trident and his forces if we're lucky."

"Sounds better than having no plan at all," said Terra.

Robin nodded, and turned to face the tunnel that would hopefully lead to Starro. "Titans, go!" The seven titans all ran down the tunnel, Beast Boy turning into a velociraptor in the process while Cyborg activated his shoulder light. Raven even went so far as to discreetly cast mental shields on herself and the other titans. The last thing any of them needed was for Starro to take control of any of them.

. . . . .

Aquaman stood in the front courtyard of the palace at Poseidonis, Mera and Vulko standing beside him, observing the various soldiers and other combat capable Atlanteans standing before him. They all could tell that the time would soon be upon them. The final battle against Trident was nigh. The king of Atlantis took a deep breath, and then exhaled. There was no sense in delaying the inevitable.

"Friends, Atlanteans, countrymen," he stated. "Listen to me." He lifted his trident, and slammed the blunt end on the courtyard floor. "I will not waste words, we have been through trying times, and there is little reason to believe that what is soon to come will be any less difficult. There is no guarantee that everyone standing here now will survive to the end of what's about to happen. There is no guarantee that we'll be the ones standing victorious either. And even if we are, there is no guarantee that it will come without a considerably steep cost."

He nodded his head, steeling himself as he thought once more of just what he was at risk of being forced to resort to if the coming battle proved anywhere near as difficult as he currently expected. He gazed back at the assorted warriors gathered before him. "But regardless of what happens, let us all know this. One way or another, regardless of who wins, this battle will be the last for this war!" The assorted warriors all cheered, except for the sulking Tramm and the concerned Tula.

"And to ensure that we all put in our best effort at ensuring that this battle ends the war," Aquaman continued, "I want all of us to give our all. And that means I need all of the combat capable amongst us to be putting in their best effort." He directed a meaningful glance at Tramm and Tula. "And I do mean _all_ of us."

It took about a minute for these last few words to sink in. But once they did, Tula and Tramm's eyes widened as they realized what those words meant. They would now finally get to fight.

The ginger haired girl gave her king a quick bow, slamming her fist against her chest twice as a sign of respect. "Have no fear my king," she stated. "I have served you well before, and this time will be no different."

Tramm spoke as well. To the majority of the gathered Atlanteans, he sounded as if he were speaking some sort of strange nonsensical gibberish. But those of sufficiently high birth, or at least with telepathy, were able to understand him as if he were speaking perfect English. And in their ears, he was clearly stating, "You can count on me my king. I may not be as strong, experienced, or skilled in combat as La'gaan, but I will not fail you today."

The king of Atlantis nodded, a smile on his face. "I know," he responded in acknowledgement of what Tula and Tramm had said. "And I shall promise you this right now Tramm; if we are victorious and still alive after this battle is over, I shall make sure that we do everything in our power to find Garth and also double our efforts to search for La'gaan."

Tramm, now clearly looking in near tears from the joy of what he'd just heard, bowed in a style that allowed him to be on his hands and knees before he then stretched himself forward so that his face was on the courtyard floor. "I'll never be able to repay you enough for this my king."

"Nor will you need to."

Aquaman lifted his trident once more. "Our enemy approaches! Let us go out and show him how the forces of Atlantis, close to defeat as he may seem to have us, will not go down against the likes of him without a fight!"

As one, all the Atlantean warriors gathered in the courtyard raised their weapons or hands charging with magic and cheered. Today, regardless of who won, the war against Trident would end with this battle.

. . . . .

The seven titans rushed straight into the cavern with the purple crystals and the pool of water, skidding to a stop in the process. They looked around; eyes narrowed warily. So far, there appeared to be no sign of Starro.

"Where is he?" Terra asked.

"I can't see him," said Beast Boy. He briefly sniffed the air, and then shook his head. "Can't smell him either."

"I just tried making psychic contact," Raven added. "No results.'

"He's probably shielding his mind in order to better hide himself," Robin suggested. "Batman told me he did the same thing before to keep Martian Manhunter from detecting him while he was controlling Superman."

"He could be anywhere," said Starfire.

"No kidding ya'll," Cyborg agreed, shaking his head in the process. "Even my scanners seem to be having a little difficulty tracking him."

"The abyssals probably cast some sort of spell to block him from your trackers," Aqualad suggested.

"We'll just have to keep moving further towards that pool," said Robin. "But keep your guard up. If he truly is here, he could strike at any moment."

The team slowly made their way closer to the water, fully alert and ready to react at a moment's notice. They made it all the way to the edge of the pool, and stood still, waiting for Starro to reveal himself or similarly make a move against them. The minutes dragged on with nothing happening.

"Either he's not here," Robin stated, "or he's trying to pull of some kind of trick."

"Well if he's trying to pull a trick," Cyborg stated, "it certainly ain't working yet. At least not for me."

"Two can play at that game."

The other titans looked at Beast Boy in time to see the changeling lift his head towards the cavern ceiling, a cheeky grin on his face. Then he started singing. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star/How I wonder where you are/Up above the world so high/Like a diamond in the sky…"

"Your childish attempt at goading me into an emotionally compromising state of rage is an exercise in futility."

The Titans smiled. Now they knew for certain that Starro was likely in the area. "Really now?" Robin asked.

"Indeed," Starro's voice responded. "You of all people should know better than to expect me to fall for such puerile tactics as the kind that your pet has currently chosen to resort to."

"Dude," Beast Boy snarled, "I'm really starting to get sick of you calling me that."

"Why? Because it's true?"

"How about you stop the mind games and show yourself," Raven growled.

"Yeah," Terra spat in agreement with the sorceress. "Stop hiding and fight us like a man! The sooner you stop prolonging the moment we take those talismans off of you, the better!"

"I cannot decide whether to be impressed by your boldness and bravery, or laugh at your foolishness for thinking doing such a thing will be anywhere near as easy as you appear to currently think."

"Well now's your chance to prove us wrong Patrick." Cyborg raised his now clenched fists, a cocky look on his face. "You wanna piece of me little fella? Come on out and fight us!"

"Very well, I shall."

A sudden shockwave emitting from the ground briefly caused the titans to falter in their footing. They just barely managed to notice a crater sized web of cracks that had inexplicably appeared near the edge of the pool, but were still looking in that direction in time to see another such web of cracks to suddenly materialize a couple feet to the previous spot's left, complete with another powerful shockwave.

But if the titans hadn't already been caught off guard by this, they soon found themselves even more surprised when Starro started slowly materializing into sight before them. However, it wasn't so much the fact that he was apparently coming out of invisibility that was now proving so shocking. Rather, it was the fact that, as was becoming increasingly clear the closer he came to fully rematerializing and then undeniable when he finally completely removed the glamour charm talisman that he'd used to conceal himself and tossed it aside, he had now somehow undergone a very unpleasant change in size since the last time they'd seen him.

"Uh, guys," Terra stated worriedly. "Is it just me, or has he somehow increased to being about the same size as that monster that Cinderblock, Plasmus, and Overload can combine into forming?"

Robin winced, cursing under his breath.

"Robin?" Starfire asked concernedly.

"Guys," he stated, a rather sheepish tone now present in his voice. "I completely forgot that I was going to mention this earlier, but remember how I said that he could enhance his power by channeling surplus energy he absorbed?" He pointed at the now giant Starro. "This is what I meant by that."

Starro directed his single giant red eye, now looking even more nightmarish thanks to his vastly increased size, down towards the titans. "WHO'S LITTLE NOW TITANS?!"

"This ought to be fun," Raven droned as she and the other titans instinctively backed away from the advancing Starro.

. . . . .

The two opposing armies stood just outside the city limits of Poseidonis, facing each other with only about a mile of distance between them. The leaders of both armies had their brows furrowed into glares, and their hands clenched around their respective tridents.

"One way or another," Trident thought to himself, "Atlantis will be mine."

"You'll never take my kingdom," Aquaman thought to himself. "Not without a fight."

The two warrior leaders rose their tridents into the air. Evidently, they both believed they'd waited long enough. "Let our blood be shed, till the gods make known their will," they said in unison, the distance between them preventing them from realizing how they were speaking this traditional Atlantean prebattle prelude phrase in unison.

Aquaman pointed his trident in the direction of the enemy forces. "It ends now!"

"Attack!" Trident roared, pointing his own trident in the direction of the Atlantean forces in the process.

Trident's army of Trench soldiers snarled and hissed viciously, their piranha-like teeth bared, and claws extended. The Atlantean forces also screamed in anticipation of the coming battle. Vulko raised his war scepter and all the other Atlantean warriors with weapons raised their weapons skyward as they all screamed with him. Mera, Tula, and all the other spellcasters raised their hands, already preparing and charging up spells to use, Tula in particular feeling especially eager to leave her mark on the enemy forces now that she was finally getting the chance to actively fight in this combat. Tramm, meanwhile, expanded himself like a puffer fish in exactly the same way his brother was capable of, beat his chest with his fists, and then took on a combat ready stance while letting out an inhuman roar of rage and bloodlust. The mind controlled naga Trident was riding on let out a roar of its own. All at once, the two armies surged forward, the air ringing with the sounds of their battle cries as they all charged towards each other, ready to fight. While Aquaman seemed just as eager to fight as his soldiers as he ran alongside them, Trident was noticeably hanging back as much as he could and letting his forces largely gain ground ahead of him. The final battle for Atlantis had now begun.

. . . . .

Robin slammed against one of the cavern walls, having been slammed into flying against it by a swing of one of Starro's arms. The boy wonder groaned, and then collapsed onto the cavern floor.

"You really should save yourself the embarrassment," Starro stated. "It's already proving quite clear that I'm going to win."

"That's what you think," Robin growled, wincing from the pain of his impact against the two rock hard surfaces he'd landed against.

"Defiant as ever I see. Your mentor would be proud."

"I'll show you defiance!"

Starro turned his gaze away from Robin in time for Cyborg to blast him in the eye with his sonic cannon. "BOOYAH!" the half robot warrior yelled as the giant alien starfish was sent stumbling backwards, his eye closed from the discomfort brought by the blast to his eye. Starro collapsed against a nearby wall, shook his 'head' side to side, and then opened his eye back up to glare at Cyborg.

"It will take far more than just hitting me in areas where I can still feel discomforted by blows against to defeat me you little…"

He was blasted by a maelstrom of shadowy lightning sent his way by Raven, causing him to slam against the cavern wall once more. This time, the impact was hard enough to cause the wall to crack and even partially cave in from behind Starro, causing the giant alien starfish to collapse onto his back.

Starro got back up, sending dust and rubble sliding off of him in the process, and glared hatefully at the half demoness. "You may have blocked me from subjecting you and your friends to my mind control," he growled, "but I need only to take you out and I'll be able to mind control your friends into taking each other out as easily as walking five steps through this cavern!"

"Then good thing we're around to keep you away from her!"

The alien starfish turned his head just in time to see Beast Boy rush towards him before the shapeshifter then turned into a t-rex, bit him on the left arm, and then sent the both of them tumbling down to the cavern floor. While the two were still sprawled out on the cavern floor, Beast Boy remained in his t-rex form, biting and tugging at Starro's arm. Starro hissed, glared at Beast Boy, and abruptly jabbed his right arm against the side of the dinosaur's head. Beast Boy hissed, his jaws involuntarily loosening their grip. This was all Starro needed to yank his left arm free. And immediately after that, he proceeded, in an act that should have been impossible for a being of his current size, to take part in a swift back flip, his 'legs' slamming into the dinosaur's lower jaw and catapulting it into the air.

Beast Boy managed to regain his bearings just in time to hurriedly turn into a crow and start flying around, only to then shriek and hurriedly fly to the side to avoid getting smacked by a swing of Starro's left arm, and then continue flying around frantically in all direction as the alien starfish continued trying to smack at him as if he were a mosquito. "Stay still you little pest!"

He was suddenly blasted in the face by a flurry of starbolts, and he went stumbling backwards. Starfire flew closer towards him, hurling more and more starbolts at him in the process, letting off a burst of her eye beams every now and then as well. She eventually got close enough to punch him right in the eye, sending him reeling right into another nearby wall. The Tamaranean flew up close to Starro again.

But this time the action proved a mistake, as Starro opened his eye and recovered in time to grab her with his left arm right as she was winding up for another punch. He glared furiously at Starfire as she squirmed and hissed in discomfort while trying to get free from his grip. "If you think I'm going to show mercy to you as a fellow alien refugee on this planet, you are severely mistaken…"

He abruptly hissed in discomfort, letting go of Starfire in the process, as he found himself engulfed in electricity after getting hit by one of Robin's voltage disks. He mentally cursed. It was taking all the power within the protective talisman to prevent the electricity from the disk from harming him and causing him to shrink. As it were, despite causing him no physical harm, let alone causing him to shrink, he still found himself feeling a lot weaker once the voltage web had worn away than he had felt before getting hit by the disk.

He turned around to face Robin, his eye narrowed ominously. Then he started to advance towards the boy wonder. "You're gonna wish you hadn't done that once I'm finished with you…"

He briefly stumbled when he felt something hard and heavy slam against him from behind. He turned around just in time to see Terra standing on top of a levitating rock before she sent another boulder flying his way. He swung himself to the left just in time to avoid getting hit, and then to the right to avoid another projectile. With an incoherent roar of rage, he then swung his right arm at a 4th boulder the geomancer sent after him, sending it rocketing right back at her. Terra, too caught off guard to react in time, got hit by her own attack and was sent pounding into the cavern wall behind her.

The geomancer was just starting to weakly attempt to get back on her feet, groaning from her impact against the wall, when she was then yanked into the air, shrieking in the process, by the angry Starro. The alien starfish lifted her up, his right arm coiled around her ankles and his left arm coiled around her wrists, and positioned her as if he were about to try to pull her in half. "Any last words?"

But Terra had managed to briefly catch sight of something that would soon work in her favor right before Starro asked this question, and she directed a smug smile towards him, gesturing her head towards where she'd seen the element in question. "Surfs up."

"Huh?"

Starro turned his gaze to face where Terra had gestured. His eye briefly widened, and then he directed a grudging look of respect towards Terra. "Clever."

It was only at that moment that Starro realized that he'd never once been attacked by Aqualad, and that he had subsequently failed to really pay that much attention to the Atlantean over the course of the entire fight so far. Now he could see that, with the other titans keeping his attention away from the Atlantean, Aqualad had made it into the water pool within the cavern. And now, having rapidly rejuvenated back to full strength as a result, the Atlantean was about to send a giant burst of water flying at the alien starfish.

With a yell, the Atlantean unleashed the attack, the watery jet plowing straight into Starro's eye, sending the alien starfish stumbling backward, letting go of Terra in the process. The geomancer had already summoned a levitating boulder to come towards her before Starro let her go, and she was able to land on it and levitate herself in the opposite direction while Starro was blasted away by her boyfriend's attack. The founding titans also made sure to quickly move aside in time to avoid getting crashed into by the giant alien starfish as he continued sliding backwards from getting hit by Aqualad's attack.

It wasn't until he'd pushed Starro all the way to the halfway point between the cavern pool and the cavern's entrance that Aqualad finally shut off the attack. The alien starfish slid back another few feet before collapsing flat on his back. The titans watched from their current positions at the pool, still on guard and ready to attack just in case. But after a few minutes, right as the titans were starting to feel that perhaps maybe Starro had in fact been defeated, they heard Starro start to let out a very unnerving sounding laugh.

"Uh dudes?" Beast Boy asked, clearly nervous. "Please tell me I'm not the only one who's worried right now about the fact that he's laughing."

Starro continued laughing, slowly getting back on his feet and straightening up to full height in the process, his red eye opening back up and agleam with what looked like a maniacal glee. He zeroed his gaze in on Terra. "Like I said before your boyfriend blasted me, you and your friends made a very clever move in keeping me focused on all of you while Garth made his way over to the pool in this cavern to speed up his recovery. Against any other non-Atlantean foe, that probably would have been enough to allow you to win this battle right here and now."

He shook his head, a smug look now in his single eye. "But I'm afraid that wasn't quite clever enough. For you see, not only is my little shield still on me." He gestured towards the infernal green talisman protecting him. "But even without that shield, the specific attack your boyfriend just subjected me to would have still been the last thing you should have done." He pointed at Robin. "For as your leader appears to have forgotten, my kind are adapted to absorb water and keep it stored inside our bodies for immense amounts of time so as to allow us to stay moist during our planet's dry seasons. And as a result, exposure to water has the exact same rejuvenating effect on me as it does on your boyfriend." He spread his arms out as if to say 'behold'. "And just like that, despite how dear ol' bat boy's lightning weapon had still managed to at least weaken me despite causing me no physical harm, I am now back at full strength once more. Back to square one for you lot. Ready for round two? I know I am!"

Cyborg looked to Robin. "We're doomed."

"Took the words right out of my mouth dude," Beast Boy whimpered in agreement.

Laughing maniacally, Starro advanced towards the titans once more, the seven teen heroes hurriedly scattering out of the way as best as they could. Already it was starting to seem like this battle would be even harder than they'd already expected it would be.

. . . . .

A Poseidonis soldier clashed his blade against the claws of the trench warrior he was fighting, teeth gritted as he fought to achieve dominance with his blade in the ensuing 'wrestling match' between them. The trench warrior snarled, and pushed back against the Poseidonis soldier's blade as much as it could. Multiple similar duels occurred all across the battlefield as the two armies furiously battled each other.

Crazily enough, this current battle seemed surprisingly more evenly matched compared to all the other battles that had unfolded before this current one. Of course, it certainly helped that the Poseidonis forces had the full extent of their army, magical and otherwise, out fighting this time. And with so many soldiers now out and actively fighting alongside their comrades against the trench warriors, the magic shielding them became just that slightly easier to overwhelm. Even the naga proved slightly easier to defend against thanks to the larger number of spellcasters present to provide sufficient shielding from the bewitched sea monster's attacks. But by far the most welcome direct additions to the combat were Tramm, Tula, Vulko, Mera, and Aquaman.

Tramm was clearly very happy indeed to finally vent his issues and negative feelings that had been building up in him since the day of his brother's disappearance, as he was now savagely rampaging around and brutally attacking any and every trench warrior unlucky enough to either end up in his way or try to attack him, roaring and bellowing incoherently in rage as he took full advantage of his expanded form ability that he shared with La'gaan. Tula was also clearly happy to finally be allowed to actively fight in the battle after so many days spent babysitting Tramm in the armory, as she was even now sending trench warriors packing with her immensely powerful Atlantean magic, something that the rest of the soldiers and spell casters in the battle greatly appreciated. Even the naga ended up finding out the hard way just how powerful Tula was when it tried to swim at her and bite at her, only to be sent flying away with a surprised roar after getting caught and blown backwards by an underwater 'whirlwind' she summoned and sent its way.

Vulko was similarly proving a welcome addition to the ranks of the Poseidonis soldiers who weren't spellcasters. In fact, thanks to a talisman he'd had installed to his war scepter that allowed it to cut through a massive number of magical wards as if they were nonexistent, he was rapidly proving himself an apparent one man army, as well as rather regretful that he hadn't directly joined in the combat sooner. But Mera and Aquaman were by far making the most difference with their presence amongst the Atlantean forces actively fighting, with the half Atlantean and half surface dweller king of Atlantis attacking mercilessly with his trident, fists, and feet, while the Xebellian descended queen let loose with a vast variety of Atlantean magical attacks, with one notable example being when she caused multiple bubbles to coalesce together and harden into 'water spears' that she then sent plunging straight through the hearts and throats of multiple trench warriors at once.

Even Topo had started actively taking part in the combat! And though he wasn't actually doing that much, if any, direct attacking himself, he nonetheless proved useful by letting out bursts of his octopus ink at opportune moments as well as occasionally catching trench warriors off guard and causing them to stumble by using his camouflage to sneak up on them before grabbing them by the ankles and tripping them up.

But Trident waited patiently from the position he'd chosen to take as he calmly watched the battle unfold. It was disconcerting seeing his forces seemingly so clearly on the ropes against the very opponents they'd largely had the upper hand against for most of the previous battles they'd fought over the last few days. But he had faith nonetheless in victory being his. For he also knew that, as large of a dent as his foes currently appeared to be making against his forces, they would all eventually run out of power and grow weaker and weaker with time. And as long as enough of his forces still remained standing when that moment came, then they would inevitably turn the tide, allowing him to take full advantage of the fact that the magic he was vicariously wielding would stay in effect as long as the artifact providing power to the talismans allowing him to wield this magic remained intact. And then, once Aquaman himself was at his weakest, he would finally join the fray himself just long enough to deal the final killing blow against the half breed king of Atlantis. And with Aquaman dead, the rest of the Poseidonis army would swiftly follow suit, with the exception of what few members proved intelligent enough to surrender.

"Enjoy your winning streak while you can your majesty," Trident purred, his hand clenching gleefully around his namesake weapon in anticipation of what he hoped to be a glorious finishing move. "For sooner or later, you will meet your doom."

. . . . .

Little did the combatants involved in the two major battles unfolding concurrently with each other realize that there were still two comparative wild cards in the works. In fact, one of those wild cards was currently finishing up a task that would nullify any chances of Starro and Trident receiving any assistance from the abyssals, if only for the time being at least.

The green abyssal soldier with silvery streaks in his scales crash landed hard on the floor of the abyssal living space caverns, shrieking as his left leg ended up getting crushed painfully under his own weight. Hissing in pain, he tried his best to drag himself backwards and away from the unexpected attacker who'd just now sent him flying, his amber eyes widened with shock and terror at both the fact that his attacker was now swiftly advancing towards him and at the ready for another attack as well as just who the attacker in question was.

"Why are you doing this?!" the soldier screamed, his unexpected enemy only getting closer and closer to him despite his increasingly frantic attempts to put distance between them. "You're supposed to be on our side!"

A watery tendril suddenly wrapped around his right ankle and lifted him into the air. He had just enough time to shriek before he was then literally whipped into flying right into the cavern wall behind him. He smashed painfully against the wall, his back cracking from the impact. He collapsed to the floor on his backside, hissing and wheezing from the pain. His enemy came to a stop right in front of him with a stomp, the abyssal rearing up with a frightened hiss and widened eyes.

"I was _never_ on your side," the abyssal's foe roared. "Certainly not willingly!" He pointed his weapons at the abyssal. "And with all the disrespect you treated me with for so many years even before that foul master of yours came into the picture, you should be thankful I'm not subjecting you and your friends to an even worse fate!"

"No," the abyssal yelled, his hands raised in a futile gesture of defense. "No please!"

A conjoined burst of icy mist shot forth from the weapons straight towards the abyssal. There was just enough time for a half horrified and half despairing scream to fill the air from within the icy mist once it had engulfed the abyssal before the mist faded away to reveal that same abyssal now completely encased and paralyzed within a large diamond shaped mass of ice.

For about a minute, Kaldur kept his water bearers pointed towards the newly frozen abyssal, glaring intently at it with narrowed eyes just to be absolutely certain that the spell had taken affect and his enemy would not escape any time in the near future. He then nodded his head, evidently satisfied, and he slipped his water bearers back into their sheaths on his belt.

"Finally," he said to himself. "It is done." He briefly looked around the rest of the room, taking note of all the other similarly frozen abyssals he'd taken care of before the most recent one he'd frozen. And the ones in this cavern weren't the only ones he'd frozen either. He'd gone to the trouble of freezing every single abyssal, conscious or otherwise, in the entirety of the lower caverns. He'd even gone so far as to encase an abyssal statue that he'd detected a distinct aura of magic around, as he had a feeling that the magic aura around it indicated that it was perhaps an actual abyssal that had been turned to stone, and that it would therefore be best to encase this one in ice as well just in case the spell that had turned it to stone happened to wear off. And that was without taking into account the various purple starfish he'd frozen as well.

He thought to himself, wondering just what to do now. For a brief moment, he felt himself on the verge of breaking down as he once again remembered the fact that he'd died, been trapped in soul form and prevented from crossing to the afterlife, and then been fully resurrected just in time to spend multiple months now under an immensely potent mind control. And that was without considering the fact that he'd also very recently attacked two of his closest friends from before his death, or the fact that Tula…

He shook his head vigorously side to side, eyes closed. "Now's not the time," he thought furiously to himself. "Right now, I'm still potentially in danger. And Atlantis is in trouble. And so are Garth, Robin, and several friends they've made since my death. Take care of all that first. _Then_ worry about angst."

"Ugh, my head."

Kaldur turned around, briefly tensing up for a fight, only to then relax slightly as he saw that La'gaan was getting up. La'gaan stopped rubbing his head, opened his eyes, and then turned his head, a still somewhat pained and half conscious look in his eyes. Then his eyes widened as he caught sight of Kaldur. "Neptune's beard!" He reared back, hands outstretched in awe and surprise. "Kaldur?! You're…you're alive!"

The son of Black Manta nodded. "Indeed I am."

For a few more seconds, La'gaan remained surprised and in awe over the matter. Then he took on a more horrified look. "Oh Neptune," he groaned. He clenched his hands against his head as if trying to wring his fingers through nonexistent hair. "Then that means…all that stuff that happened. That time in between now and my initial capture by the abyssals in which I was a bloodthirsty monster and chained up in a lab. That was all for real?"

Kaldur nodded, remembering exactly what La'gaan was referring to occurring during his own time under Starro's control. "I'm afraid it was."

"Oh man," La'gaan whimpered, hanging his head. But then he jerked it up again, another horrified look now on his face. "Tramm!" he yelled, now remembering how he'd promised his little brother that he wouldn't be gone long on the mission in which he'd been captured. He looked back at Kaldur. "How long have I been here?!"

"A little over a year," Kaldur responded.

La'gaan hissed. "No, no, no." He slammed his right fist on the cavern floor in frustration. "I have to get back to Poseidonis. I have to let him know I'm ok…"

"And you will," Kaldur responded. "But first, we have some business to attend to in these caverns."

"What do you mean?"

"Garth, Robin, and their friends we helped Starro and the abyssals attack are still here. And judging by how I haven't seen any of them in the time I just spent freezing all the abyssals and Starro clones, it would appear they are currently in the crystal pool chamber doing battle with Starro. And with the two of us no longer addled as we were before, it is high time we helped them."

"But what about Atlantis? I remember now. They said something about an alliance with Trident, and Trident being in the midst of a war against his majesty and the rest of the army at Poseidonis."

"And we'll take care of that. I promise. But first we need to help Garth and his friends from the surface take out Starro. I have an idea on how we can all help turn the tide against Trident; but we need to have Starro out of commission if it's to have any chance of succeeding."

La'gaan briefly tensed up as if about to argue, his concern for his younger brother briefly overriding his more reasonable and obedient side. But then his training reasserted itself, and he nodded his head. "If you say so." He looked Kaldur directly in the eyes. "How are we going to help take out the starfish? Do you have an idea for that as well?"

Kaldur nodded, and then gestured for La'gaan to come with him. "Follow me," he stated. "I know of an alternate route to the crystal pool we can take that might allow us to get the drop on Starro. I'll explain the full plan to you on the way."

. . . . .

The titans continued their difficult battle against Starro, each of them slowly feeling the strain of the long combat. Starro, naturally, still remained standing, and with the two talismans still attached to him for good measure. Nonetheless, the titans were far from willing to give up now.

"Try this on for size," Cyborg yelled, a salvo of missiles being fired from his arms. They all slammed into Starro, the resulting explosions sending the alien starfish stumbling backwards. Starro had just regained his balance when he then found himself mercilessly assaulted with a volley of starbolts. Starfire sent starbolt after starbolt flying at Starro from her hands, grunting wordlessly with each shot. When her shots started getting dangerously close to hitting his talismans, Starro raised his right arm into position to shield them. The Tamaranean princess noticed this, and ceased her onslaught, hoping that this would trick him into lowering his arm so she could fire at the talismans again.

Unfortunately, Starro had planned for her to do this. The instant she stopped shooting her starbolts, he thrusted his left arm at her, grabbing her by the ankles. Starfire shrieked as she was subsequently yanked downwards and swung aside to the point that she slammed into Cyborg like a club right as he'd been about to fire his sonic cannon. Starro also let go of her ankles the instant she slammed into Cyborg, sending both of them flying off to the side.

A lion's roar split the air, and Starro turned to face that direction just in time for Beast Boy, in his lion form, to slam onto his 'face' and start biting and scratching at the area around his eye as well as at the strings connecting the talismans to him. Starro hissed, flailing his arms around in a wild effort at getting the changeling off of his face. Raven levitated behind Starro and used her powers to summon strands of shadowy energy that wrapped around the alien's arms and pulled them back, hindering him in his efforts at brushing off Beast Boy.

But just like with Starfire, Starro knew just the way to out gambit Raven's current tactics against him. He stopped trying to have his arms struggle against the pull and started leaning backwards in the exact direction his arms were being pulled. Raven had just enough time for her eyes to widen upon realizing what Starro was now doing before she hurriedly swooped to the side in time to avoid getting crushed underneath the alien starfish when he slammed on the cavern floor on his back with a thud.

The impact also jolted Beast Boy, causing him to briefly slide away from where he'd been positioned before. Starro immediately took advantage of this, grabbing the green lion by the tail, lifting it up, and swinging it like a tetherball before throwing it right at Raven. The Azarathian sorceress had just enough time to notice this before the changeling slammed into her and sent the both of them sprawling.

His latest attackers now out of commission, Starro got back onto his feet. "Redundant as I may sound in saying this, you really should just give up right now. Goodness knows you're running out of options at this point."

"Oh we're just getting warmed up."

Starro didn't even get the chance to turn to face the direction of Robin's voice before a volley of explosive flame disks started crashing into him. "Gah!" Starro shrieked as he was sent stumbling backwards by the rapid-fire onslaught of explosions.

"And now," Robin continued as he continued sending more and more flame disks hurtling the alien starfish's way. "So are you."

"And you call your pet the annoying one," Starro grumbled as he continued stumbling under the onslaught, clearly unamused.

"He's not a pet."

Starro had just enough time to tense up and prepare to look in Terra's direction before he suddenly noticed that he was about to get crushed between two giant slabs of rock rising from the cavern floor to his left and right. "Agh!" he screamed, just barely managing to thrust his arms out in time to hold the two slabs back and prevent them crushing him.

Terra lowered herself into Starro's line of sight, a smirk on her face as she kept manipulating the rocky slabs into pushing against Starro's efforts at holding them back. "And out of all of us, I'd say you're the one who's running out of options now."

"Oh that's rich," Starro hissed. "Considering your boyfriend is the idiot currently standing right behind me."

Sure enough, when Starro subsequently jabbed his left leg backwards in a 'back kick' attack, none other than Aqualad was sent flying backwards, slamming into a nearby crystal cluster.

Terra's eyes widened under the yellow glow. "Garth," she stated in concern, lowering her hands and unconsciously deactivating her powers in the process. Starro was quick to take advantage of her momentary distraction the instant the slabs of rock at risk of crushing him subsequently crumbled harmlessly into dust. He grabbed the levitating rock Terra was standing on, and then swung it in the same direction as Aqualad, catapulting Terra right at him. The geomancer had just enough time to shriek before she crashed into her boyfriend right as he was starting to recover from his own impact and regain his bearings. The crystal cluster he'd earlier slammed into shattered into pieces when the elementalist couple slammed against it, allowing them to have a clear path to hurtle further through the air before coming to a painful stop against the cavern wall directly where the waterfall was located. They both had just enough time to groan from the impact before they landed into the pool with a splash.

Robin was quick to act, hurling yet another flame disk at Starro. But this time Starro was prepared, and he sent the disk rocketing right back at Robin with a swing of his right arm. The boy wonder had just enough time to hiss and hurriedly position his cape appropriately to shield himself before the disk slammed into the cape and exploded, sending him flying backward.

All the titans had just managed to finally get back on their feet and recover from their earlier impacts when Starro started speaking again. "Give up titans!" Starro yelled, his red eye blazing with barely restrained rage. "This is the last time I'll politely offer you the chance to stand down! And if you're smart, you'll take it!"

"Never," Robin snarled, his masked eyes narrowed and his right fist clenching defiantly.

"What he said," Starfire agreed.

"Then clearly, the gloves need to come off even further." Starro raised his right arm towards his 'head'. "I suppose now's as good a time as any to add my more mentally based arsenal to the mix."

"Seriously dude?" Beast Boy asked. He shook his head in disbelief. "Raven blocked you from using those against us remember?"

"Your friend may have blocked me from using my mind control on you," Starro corrected. "But you clearly forget that the same talisman that has enhanced my mind control has also enhanced my telepathic capabilities. And as anyone with even the most miniscule of knowledge on what the Martian are capable of, telepathy is not just a toy to be wasted on speaking to fish."

He tapped his right arm against his head twice, and all seven of the titans suddenly shrieked and clenched their hands against the sides of their heads as they suddenly felt themselves feeling an agonizing presence inside their heads. Even Raven found herself hissing and wheezing from Starro's devastating telepathic attack. "And I thought my father's presence in my mind was uncomfortable," she bitterly thought to herself. At the current rate, she honestly felt as if her mind was literally being ripped apart. Her friends hardly felt any better as Starro ravaged their own minds with his telepathic assault as well.

"Don't," Robin growled, his teeth gritted, and his eyes closed from the pain. "Give…up…we can…still…fight…this…"

"Friends…please…," Starfire whimpered. "Make this…end…it hurts…"

"Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!" Beast Boy howled.

Even Aqualad, used to the presence of telepathy in his mind from his multiple usages of such power for communication, was completely unprepared to suffer at the receiving end of such an ability in the form of an attack.

"I WANTED THIS TO BE A FAIR FIGHT!" Starro roared, his titan opponents barely able to hear him over the force of his telepathic attack on their minds. "I WANTED YOU TO HAVE THE CHANCE TO STAND DOWN WHILE YOU STILL COULD! BUT SINCE YOU REFUSE TO SEE REASON, YOU LEAVE ME NO CHOICE BUT TO _MAKE_ YOU STAND DOWN!" He tapped his head twice a 2nd time, _doubling_ the strength of his telepathic assault. The titans _howled_ in agony, Cyborg's head even starting to flash and flicker with lights and electricity as the force of the attack started to cause his brain processors to start rapidly overheating from the strain.

"WHY MUST THE PEOPLE OF THIS PLANET CONSTANTLY MAKE THINGS DIFFICULT FOR ME!?" the alien starfish thundered, his fury tearing away at the titans' minds just as savagely as his telepathy. "ALL I WANT IS TO HAVE A NICE SAFE HOME TO LIVE IN! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK!?"

He tripled the power of his telepathic attack. At this point, the seven young heroes could barely even stand, let alone stay conscious or focus on anything at all. They could barely even focus on themselves, let alone on each other. All that existed now to them was the complete obliterating agony that Starro was thrusting upon them with nothing more than sheer willpower.

"I WAS HAPPY ON MY OLD HOME! AND A BUNCH OF BLACKHEARTED FOREIGNERS DENIED ME THE ABILITY TO STAY THERE! I HAD THE CHANCE TO GO HOME TO MY ORIGINAL PLANET MERE HOURS AFTER MY ARRIVAL ON THIS FILTHY PLANET! AND YOU DENIED IT TO ME! SO I INSTEAD TRIED TO JUST MAKE THIS PLANET MY NEW HOME! AND YOU DENIED ME THAT TO! AND YOU _STILL_ DENY ME THAT NOW!"

He positioned his arms, the tip of his right arm curled into a 'fist' and hovering above his left 'palm'. "WELL I'M DONE WITH PATHETIC AND CRUEL BEINGS NOT AMONGST MY KIN SUCH AS YOU CONSTANTLY GETTING IN MY WAY!" Starro roared, half enraged and half on the verge of breaking down into heartbroken tears. "I'M SICK OF MY HOPES, DREAMS, AND CHANCES OF BEING HAPPY AGAIN CONSTANTLY GETTING RIPPED OUT OF MY REACH! AND I'M TIRED OF BEING CONSTANTLY DENIED A HOME!"

He lifted his clenched right arm as high up as he could. "YOU ALL THINK YOU'RE SO HIGH AND MIGHTY! JUST LIKE THE LEAGUE! JUST LIKE THOSE SCIENTISTS! JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER NATIVE OF THIS VILE GARBAGE DUMP OF A PLANET! WELL NOW YOU SHALL HEAR THE TRUTH! YOU'RE VERMIN!" He slammed his right 'fist' against his left 'palm', the impact causing a booming thud to split the air.

"YOU'RE WEAK!"

Thud!

"YOU'RE NOTHING!"

Thud!

"NOTHING!"

Thud!

"NOTHING!"

Thud!

"AND ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!"

Thud!

"WHATEVER IT TAKES!"

Thud!

"YOU!"

Thud!

"WILL ALL!

Thud!

"BOW!

Thud!

"TO!

Thud!

"ME!"

Thud!

"That's what you think!"

Starro suddenly halted, his eye widening, completely losing his focus. The devastating telepathic attack suddenly ceased in response to Starro's loss of focus, and the seven titans collapsed to the floor on their hands and knees, panting, gasping, and wheezing from how close they'd been to getting their minds completely destroyed and finding themselves transformed into catatonic drooling husks.

Starro, meanwhile, turned around to look behind him, just in time for none other than and expanded La'gaan to suddenly leap onto him, latching onto the area around his eye. Starro howled and hissed in discomfort as he flailed around trying to get the green humanoid fish warrior off of him while La'gaan punched and kicked at the alien starfish. The titans managed to recovered sufficiently enough to look in Starro's direction, and their eyes widened as they finally noticed La'gaan.

"Yo," said Cyborg. "Ya'll seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Looks like our efforts paid off," said Raven.

"You can say that again Rae," Beast Boy agreed.

"It is definitely nice to see La'gaan is free from that spell," said Aqualad. He nodded his head, happy to see his friend back to being his full self. "And it is equally nice of him to finally be helping us."

"Couldn't agree more," said Terra, impulsively grabbing her boyfriend's hand in the process.

After a couple more minutes of struggling, Starro managed to grab onto La'gaan and throw him off. La'gaan bounced on the cavern floor a couple times before skidding to a stop in a three-point crouch, his right fist clenched and in the air while his left palm and both feet were against the cavern floor. The green-skinned Atlantean lifted his head to face Starro, a vicious snarl on his face.

Starro also glared at La'gaan, his single eye narrowed ominously.

"You caught me by surprise," he snarled, pointing his left arm at the formerly bewitched Atlantean his forces had kept chained up in the lab as both a 'supplier' and a hopeful living weapon. "I'll admit to that. But you have only delayed my victory against you and the ones I was already fighting before your arrival by a few minutes!"

"Really now?"

La'gaan opened his right fist, revealing a pair of talismans. The seven titans' eyes widened at the sight of the talismans, the very ones they'd spent the last half hour or so trying to get Starro sufficiently weakened enough for them to remove themselves. It was only now that they even noticed that the now broken strings attached to the talismans had been dangling from outside La'gaan's right hand while it had still been clenched into a fist.

Starro's eye also widened, and he reflexively slapped his left hand against where he'd had his talismans, seemingly blanching in horror as he realized that he indeed no longer had his power enhancing and shield talismans attached to him. "No," he thought to himself. "This can't be happening."

But then he and his seven original opponents got another shock, and rather disturbingly literally in Starro's case, when he was suddenly blasted from behind by twin streams of electricity shooting out of the high altitude tunnel from which the waterfall was coming. The alien starfish howled in agony as he was engulfed in voltage from the electrical attack. And unlike when he'd earlier gotten zapped by Robin's voltage disks, this time the voltage had the entirety of the usual effect unfold, and he started shrinking. "No!" he screamed as he rapidly became smaller and smaller until he was finally reduced to the same size he'd been at when he'd first been released from the ice by Trident. The electricity attack finally shut off once he was down to that size. He briefly looked at himself, and then at the 8 teenage warriors, wincing as he realized how horridly the tables had now been turned against him.

But then he heard something land in the water behind him, and he turned around to face that direction. La'gaan and the titans all looked towards the pool as well. Seconds later, they all gazed in shock, smug satisfaction, and horror as none other than Kaldur rose out of the pool and walked up towards Starro, swinging his water bearers, conveniently now in 'knife form', in circles in his hands. Starro started walking backwards, clearly unnerved.

Kaldur glared at the alien starfish. "I spent Neptune knows how long under your thrall," he growled. "Forced to work alongside some of Atlantis's most abominable enemies, to attack my best friend, and to just stand by and _watch_ as he was turned into an abyssal just like the demented followers of his psychopath of an uncle!"

He pointed his water bearers straight at the now quite terrified Starro, his eyes, long reverted back to their natural color, narrowed angrily. "But now, I am no longer your slave! And from this moment, you shall cause no further harm to me, my friends, or Atlantis ever again!"

A conjoined burst of icy mist spouted from the water bearers, engulfed Starro, and rapidly encased him in a massive block of solid ice. "NO!" Starro roared, his eye widening and limbs jerking into a horrified position as he was once again encased in ice exactly as he'd been eight years prior.

La'gaan and the titans watched this, Beast Boy gulping as he caught sight of this. "I'll admit," he thought to himself. "From what little I know of the villains typically faced by the League, I can certainly see the family resemblance between him and Black Manta right about now."

Kaldur shut off his ice spell, confident now that Starro was well and truly frozen, and looked towards La'gaan and the titans. He nodded his head when his gaze reached Aqualad. "Greetings Garth." He stared at his best friend, fellow Aquaman protégé and honor guard member for the royal family of Atlantis. "It is truly a great pleasure to see you again, my friend."

In that instant, Aqualad regained his voice, and he bowed his head towards his friend, slamming his fist against his chest twice as a sign of respect from all the way back in their days as Aquaman's honor guard. "It truly is indeed a pleasure to see you again Kaldur." He lifted his head to face Kaldur once more. "There's…there's so much that's happened…so much that's changed…so much we need to talk about that's unfolded since…well…"

Kaldur nodded his head. "I know. And I will be happy to learn about all of it." He glanced around the cavern, and then back at Aqualad. "But first, there is business we must attend to." He looked to La'gaan. "Take Garth and his surface dweller friends to the outpost. I shall join you there once I've finished flooding these infernal caverns. It is high time this remnant of Zath's legacy is erased into silt in the waves."

"Yo," Cyborg said, eyes widened from what he'd just heard Kaldur say he planned to do. "Are you crazy?! How do you know you won't end up flooding the entire outpost outside of these caverns as well?! And what about all the…"

"I will ensure that you all have enough time to get out of these caverns and seal the door before the flooding has any chance of leaking out to the outpost." And as for Starro and the abyssals, they are all frozen solid, and would have no need to worry about drowning even if they weren't. And all the Starro clones ceased to exist the instant their originator was electrocuted and drained of all his surplus energy not too long ago. And I shall also make sure that there is no chance of the ice getting shattered over the course of the damage these caverns will no doubt undergo while I'm flooding them."

He looked to Robin. "Robin," he stated, remembering the few brief times the two of them had met before this moment. "If any help is required from me when I meet back up with you and the others, I shall provide it. But regardless, all the stuff we will need to get out of here, reach Poseidonis, and also buy further time needed to reach it can be found within the outpost."

Robin's eyes widened. "The T-Sub!" He looked frantically at his fellow titans. "How are we supposed to…"

"It's in the armory," Kaldur broke in. "There's a hidden rear chamber in the armory behind a door exactly like the one used to enter the lower caverns as well as Starro's lab. It uses the same code as well. You'll find your ship in there. Akmor had it secretly brought there and subjected to repairs under the hope that he could then modify it further for the abyssals' own ends. It's almost completely fixed so far. It just needs a few finishing touches before it's fully operational once more."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Cyborg stated, quickly catching on. "As long as I can find the right tools for what's still left to be done, I should get it operational again pretty fast. Maybe even faster if I have some help."

"Mechanics aren't really my strong point." La'gaan shook his head. "But I will admit, I have managed to pick up a trick or two from working with my brother. I may or may not be able to provide some semblance of assistance."

"I shall help you both further if you still haven't finished by the time I'm done down here," said Kaldur. He looked to Raven. "I get the impression that you have an affinity for magic. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"In the treasury," Kaldur explained, "there should be a crystal goblet glowing with a green aura. Destroy it. That's the artifact providing power to both Starro's talismans, and the ones he and the abyssals gave to Trident. He's probably already lost control of the naga now that Starro no longer has his mind power enhancing talisman directly on him. But if that goblet is destroyed, then he'll lose both his telepathy with the Trench _and_ the charms that he's using to enhance the strength and defense of his Trench warriors. Without all that, the resulting chaos should hopefully allow just enough time for us to arrive at Poseidonis and further alleviate the Poseidonis army of its troubles."

"I know where the treasury is."

Raven looked to Terra, who nodded her head. "I'll take you there. We can destroy the goblet from there."

"I'll go with you to," Beast Boy volunteered. "I mean, just in case you need me to sniff anything out for you."

Kaldur nodded his head in agreement, and then looked back at Robin. "In the barracks," he began. "There is a treasure chest that should contain a cache of teleportation crystals."

"I know what those look like," said Aqualad. He looked to Robin. "I can help you look. And we should probably let Starfire come to. The more eyes searching, the better."

"I was just thinking that myself," said Robin.

"Agreed," said Starfire.

"Why do we need that?" Beast Boy asked.

"Our current location is at least 10 miles from Poseidonis," La'gaan explained. "With a teleportation crystal, we can cross that distance a lot faster then if we tried swimming or using that ship of yours."

"That's debatable," Cyborg grumbled under his breath.

"Couldn't Rae just transport us there with her powers?"

"Too risky. I've never been to Poseidonis before. And traveling by portal or teleportation is nowhere near as accurate, or safe, if you're traveling to a place you can't see or haven't been to before."

"Your friend is correct," said Kaldur. "But I know the perfect place for us to teleport to with a crystal. A spot that's just far enough from the site of the battle to allow us some time to prepare, but close enough that we won't take too long to reach the site after arrival."

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Terra.

"Then let us get to work," said Kaldur. "Double time!"

"You heard him," said Robin. "Titans, go!"

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I** ** _really_** **hope you all enjoyed what I had to offer in this chapter! Because boy I had a lot of fun writing it! And I especially you're still willing to read more (not to mention are perhaps excited or intrigued by the upcoming TTG vs TT movie now that we've finally gotten a trailer released for it), because there's definitely still more to come for this story (not to mention after it)! That being said, again I hope you read and enjoyed this new chapter, but also that you leave plenty of feedback (as per usual, this new chapter requires an exact minimum of 1 review in order for me to allow the next completed chapter to be posted). See you next time guys!**

 **Coming up Next: The time has finally come for the titans to get back to their original task of providing aid to Aquaman and his forces at Poseidonis against Trident. And now that they have gotten Starro and the abyssals out of commission, no doubt already vicariously made things difficult for Trident in the process, and have Kaldur and La'gaan at the ready to help as well, can Atlantis be saved? Find out next time!**


	17. A Timely Arrival

**Hello everybody! Hope you're all ready for more Teen Titan-ic awesomeness after this long wait, because here's a new chapter! In this long awaited new chapter, the time has finally come for the war with Trident to be resolved. How shall things unfold now that Starro and the abyssals are now out of commission? Only one way to find out everybody! Here's hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, just to remind you all, I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else DC-based. The only things I do own are certain elements of my interpretations for several oceanic fantastical creatures that appear in this chapter. Ready? Let's go!**

 **Chapter 16:**

 **A Timely Arrival**

Trident had initially found himself confused when the naga suddenly halted in its latest charge towards a squadron of Poseidonian soldiers he'd ordered it to go after. But when he saw the naga's eyes no longer glowing purple when it just happened to briefly move its head so that he could get a good look its face, he began to instantly worry that something had gone wrong. And the words that the naga subsequently said only further strengthened these suspicions.

"Where am I?!" the naga yelled, clearly in panic as it started rapidly looking around, eyes widened and bright with terror as it found itself suddenly in an unfamiliar environment and situation, trying desperately to figure out why it was suddenly here and not peacefully hunting in its home territory like it had been before suddenly finding itself in its current situation. "What's going on?! What's happening?! Where am I?! Where am I?! Where am I?!" And as it shouted all this, it started rapidly swimming frantically in all directions, bowling over both Trench warriors and Poseidonian soldiers as it desperately tried to escape from the chaos around it and evacuate the area.

Trident cursed. The naga's current behavior could only mean one thing; Starro's mind control on it had ceased. "I should have guessed that slimy blighter would screw me over like this," he growled under his breath. He clenched his hands tightly around his trident, the naga finally managing to depart from the battle altogether in the process. "Well I may no longer have control over the naga, but I at least still have a tiny level of control over the Trench. And indeed he did. After all, he so far still had the telepathy charm active and could still communicate with them.

And so, for the next few minutes, despite some moments of hesitation from the Trench, the large amount they'd spent under his command had allowed him to at least still have a decent level of authority over them despite no longer having Starro's mind control helping him out. But then, right as he was starting to feel confident in his chances of victory once more, he suddenly lost his telepathy with the Trench.

"What the?" Trident thought to himself. "Impossible!" But then he saw the distinctive red aura around the Trench warriors briefly turn much brighter than normal before finally vanishing altogether. And even worse, he also noticed the magic resistance runes had also appeared to have stopped working, as they now no longer glowed whenever the Trench warriors were hit with magical attacks.

"No," Trident mentally growled, his fist clenching around his trident. The fact that the spells he'd been using to enhance the Trench warriors were no longer working, combined with the equally sudden loss of his ability to telepathically communicate with them, could only mean one thing. The goblet that had served as a reservoir for the magical energy he'd been vicariously using to power the appropriate talismans Starro had given him had been destroyed.

"How could this be?!" Trident thought to himself, using all his willpower to keep himself from panicking. "Even if Starro did wish to screw me over, destroying the goblet like that would be far too counterproductive for both of us! Why would he…?"

His eyes widened. He'd just now realized another unpleasant possibility. "What if he didn't? What if Garth and his surface dweller allies made it to his base alive and he let them live? If they have anything to do with my current misfortunes…"

He violently shook his head side to side, his eyes closed. "NO!" he thought furiously to himself. "I can't think like that! Not now! Not when I'm still so close! Titans or no Titans, I _will_ win this battle today!" He raised his trident skyward. "And I know just the way to get the Trench to still allow me some level of assistance despite my no longer having telepathy with them." He fired three beams of energy from his trident. The Trench initially stared in apparent awe at the sight, but then they started quivering as if in rage, snarling, slavering, and drooling their venomous spit. Then, as one, they all turned to face whatever random direction they wished, roared at whoever happened to be immediately in their line of sight, and then lunged out and started mindlessly attacking.

Trident smiled at the sight of this. "Perfect," he thought to himself. On Starro's own suggestion, crazily enough, he had made sure to train the Trench warriors to have one specific order that they could follow based upon a signal given to them without the use of telepathy. Specifically, in the event that he fired his trident skyward three times like he'd just now done, then the Trench had the all clear to initiate their blood frenzy, at which point they just allowed themselves to become completely consumed with rage and bloodlust to the point that they just mindlessly attacked anything that moved. Naturally, such a thing could only be useful to him as a last resort due to how the Trench were just as likely to attack each other as they were their enemies when in such a state. But fortunately, with the sheer number of soldiers on both sides of the conflict combined with his own loss of the telepathy he'd had with the Trench before, he could afford to allow them to use it now. After all, with the chaos that would soon ensue as a result, he would have the perfect opportunity to make his way over to Aquaman and kill him as long as he was careful and timed his moment just right.

He watched the battlefield as it began to become increasingly more chaotic as a result of the Trench warriors' blood frenzy, waiting for just the right time to make his move. "Any moment now," he thought to himself, his hands clenched around his trident and a cruel smile on his face. "Any moment now."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, in a flash of light, the t-sub appeared in the ocean about two miles away from the battlefield, with Beast Boy appearing outside the sub in his great white shark form alongside Aqualad, Kaldur, and La'gaan. For a moment, the 4 actively swimming heroes looked around the environment they were in. Then they all turned their attention to the sub.

"Is everyone alright?" Kaldur asked.

"We're good," said Aqualad and La'gaan.

"Fine and dandy dude," Beast Boy chimed in.

"We're alright," said Cyborg.

"Excellent," said Robin. "Let's get moving guys."

"Wait."

All the other young warriors paused and looked to Aqualad. He raised his finger as if to say 'listen'. "There's something large in the area. Powerful to."

The 6 surface dwelling titans were confused, but Kaldur and La'gaan accessed their own telepathy and reached out with just like Aqualad, and then nodded their heads. "I detect it to," said Kaldur.

"Me three," said La'gaan. "Some sort of large animal."

"And there's more than one," said Kaldur. "And I detect even more coming alongside them."

And sure enough, all 9 of the young warriors could now see multiple shadows approaching them from all sides, some rather small and others rather large. It appeared as if an entire massive gathering of mysterious underwater animals were approaching them.

"We're surrounded," Terra noted nervously.

"What should we do?" Starfire asked.

"Don't panic just yet," said Kaldur. He looked to Aqualad and La'gaan, who nodded their heads up and down. "The three of us are gonna try to talk to them and see what they want."

"Be on standby and ready to fight if things get ugly," said Aqualad. "But if they turn out to be willing to help, then we may have just found another way that we could help out his majesty and the rest of the army at Poseidonis."

. . . . .

Trident was just inches away from where he planned to reveal his newfound position and lunge out at Aquaman when the sound of a harsh keening roar split the air. The entire battlefield went silent, all combatants pausing in their movements and listening carefully. Even Aquaman seemed slightly stunned by the noise. "Impossible," the king of Atlantis thought to himself. "I didn't make the signal…"

The same roar split the air once again, and this time alongside several others of the same kind. Then the same roars were heard a 3rd time, but this time alongside multiple cries of other animals as well. Then a large rumpus was heard coming from several miles behind where Trident had his army positioned before the beginning of the battle, followed by a cloud of dust rising up and a large conjoined shadow expanding towards the battlefield from that direction.

But even with all that happening, it wasn't until the combatants actually saw the fantastical ocean animals bursting from the sand cloud that they believed what they were hearing. The first animals to breach the sand cloud were ten large blue skinned beasts that resembled a mix between a whale and a walrus. These were the Joppa whales, and they were soon followed by a multitude of other fantastical sea creatures large and small. There were seven sea serpents, massive long and slender animals that resembled a mix between eels and snakes with almost dragon-like heads and fish-like fins at the tips of their tails. There were five krakens, gigantic octopus-like beasts with huge eyes and even larger bird-like beaks in the center of their 'faces'. There were three leviathans, ocean-liner sized beasts that resembled sperm whales with four strong legs attached to giant webbed feet. And even more animals followed, with entire groups of dolphin-like merfolk, shark-like tupas, the green scaled catfish-headed crocodilians known as orobons, the cormorant-like sirens, the greenish brown sea lion-like selkies, 9 nagas, the parasauralophus-like kelpies, the giraffe horned plesiosaur-like nessies, the merhorses with seahorse-like heads known as hippocampi, the tank sized crabs known as cancerstaceans, the mosasaur-like taniwhas and shrakes, the orca-wolf hybrids known as akhluts, the elephant-headed whales known as trunkos, the fanged penguin-manatee hybrids known as ningen, and the whale-sized sea turtles known as akupara revealing themselves from within the sand cloud brought about by their arrival.

With a savage roar consisting of all the animals' respective calls merging together from all of them vocalizing in unison, the massive wave of fantastical ocean animals reached the battlefield, at which point they started to savagely lay into the multiple Trench warriors, surprisingly also working to do everything they could to avoid purposefully harming the Poseidonian army. For a brief moment, all the present warriors of Poseidonis stood absolutely still, gaping in awe at the sight of the massive 'army' of sea monsters and other oceanic oddities actively working together to take out the Trench.

But Tula was the first to regain her senses, and her eyes widened as she realized the perfect opportunity the arrival of the unexpected reinforcements had just now given to her and the rest of the Poseidonian army. She pointed her finger at the Trench warriors that were even now falling to the mercy of the literal animals attacking them. "People of Poseidonis!" Tula shouted, her voice firm and leaving no room for argument. "Our enemy is even now falling under the might of these true animals! Now is our chance! Let us assist the animals in finishing our enemy off!"

The rest of the soldiers were quick to respond once they heard what she was saying. With a harsh yell of challenge, they all raised their weapons or began charging up spells as appropriate, and then, in response to Tula summoning a massive wave of geyser blasts to erupt from underneath a squadron of Trench right as they were about to try to escape from the open jaws of a leviathan, they all resumed their own attacks against the Trench. It took several minutes after this before Vulko himself came out of his awe induced trance and got back to work on slicing at his own Trench assailants with his war scepter. Mera and Aquaman also managed to fight off their surprise and awe and prepare to resume their own work at fighting the Trench despite Aquaman's lingering confusion as to just why the Joppa whales had arrived without him giving the signal. But right as they were about to fire their own respective charging blasts, they heard a familiar voice savagely yell, "NO!"

The king and queen of Atlantis turned their heads to look behind them just in time to see an absolutely livid Trident now standing in the open right behind them, his eyes blazing with rage, his teeth gritted into a savage snarl, and his right fist clenched so tightly around his trident it was hard to believe that he hadn't accidentally snapped it in half. He pointed his trident at Aquaman, growling furiously at the king of Atlantis. "YOU HALF BREED SON OF A WHALE! YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO CHEAT BY CALLING UPON YOUR AQUATIC ANIMAL ALLIES TO HELP YOU OUT!"

Aquaman raised his eyebrow. "First, I didn't call upon these reinforcements. Second, you're one to talk calling me a cheater when you're the one who was clearly planning to strike me in the back while I was distracted."

"LIAR!" Trident roared, too angry now to see reason, assuming he ever would even if he wasn't as angry as he currently was. He got into an attack stance, both fists now clenched around his trident, which was itself now starting to crackle at the tips with electricity. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF LUCK SUDDENLY FAVORING YOU TODAY DESPITE BEING SO CERTAINLY ON MY SIDE OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS! I MAY BE ABOUT TO LOSE AGAINST YOU YET AGAIN, BUT IF I'M GOING TO DIE TODAY, THEN BY NEPTUNE I'LL MAKE SURE YOU GO DOWN WITH ME!" He then narrowed his eyes and glared in Mera's direction. "BOTH OF YOU!"

The rulers of Atlantis narrowed their eyes.

"You can try," said Aquaman, his trident at the ready and threateningly spinning around in his hands like a staff.

"We'll see about that," Mera hissed, her hands in a combat ready position and her eyes glowing solid blue while a rapidly swirling orb of water started to form and gradually expand in her hands as she prepared to cast a hydrokinetic spell.

Trident let out a harsh wordless roar of fury and fired his blast at Aquaman. The king of Atlantis deflected the attack with a swing of his own trident, and Mera then cast her spell, sending the villainous Tritonian flying backward in a horizontal underwater whirlwind.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, several yards behind where all the fantastical sea creatures had been positioned before lunging out to attack, the 7 Titans, plus Kaldur and La'gaan, were likewise at the ready, eager to join in and provide their own forms of aid now that the reinforcements Aqualad and his friends had managed to peacefully talk to had now started to help further turning the tide in Aquaman's favor for them.

"I still can't believe all those other things got interested enough in King Orrin calling upon that pod of Joppa whales to come join up with them peacefully," La'gaan stated in bemused awe.

"Nonetheless," said Kaldur, "we should be thankful that the Joppa whales heeded King Orrin's call from before this war began, and that the other living legends we found waiting alongside them proved willing to similarly aid the 'Karathen's friend' as they put it."

"I still wish I could have heard what they were all saying when you guys were talking to them," Beast Boy grumbled, still in his great white shark form.

"A dream for another day, I'm sure," said Aqualad.

"Indeed," Kaldur agreed, pointing his water bearers in the direction of the battlefield. "For now, we must move onward and join the living legends in defeating Trident and his army of Trench. I presume you all remember the plan?"

Aqualad, La'gaan, and Beast Boy nodded their heads.

"Sure do man," said Cyborg.

"Let's do it team," said Robin.

The plan was simple, La'gaan and the Titans would actively join in the battle on the battlefield itself, whereas Kaldur would hang back to keep scope of the battlefield and occasionally add his own vicarious long range assistance. With a plan like this, and the added assistance of the myriad fantastical ocean animals, there was precious little that could go wrong; not that they wouldn't be on guard and careful of course. You could never be too careful.

"Titans, go!"

. . . . .

A squadron of Poseidonian soldiers was just on the verge of attacking a squadron of Trench that had managed to miraculously escape from a kraken's grip when the Trench warriors in question were suddenly blasted right back into the kraken's waiting tentacles by a barrage of yellow energy blasts. The soldiers turned their heads to look behind them in time to see a giant orange vessel firing energy blasts at the Trench warriors while cruising its way through the battlefield and trying to avoid crashing into any of the other combatants. At first the Poseidonian soldiers were confused. But then they noticed a familiar figure in a blue and black unitard swimming nearby the ship alongside a green shark, and they instantly knew that they had good reason to be happy.

"It's him," yelled one of the soldiers, his finger pointing in Aqualad's direction. "Garth! He's here!"

The other soldiers alongside him cheered, briefly attracting the attention of the other Poseidonian soldiers and Trench warriors. Even Tula and Tramm turned their heads, their eyes widening as they caught sight of Aqualad. "Garth," Tula managed to state in surprise. But then she shook her head, getting herself focused back on the fight at end. Nonetheless, she would _definitely_ have a nice long talk with him once this whole conflict was over. "Thank you Garth," she thought to herself while still focusing on fighting against the Trench that came her way. "Thank you for returning and still being alive."

Meanwhile, Aqualad and the rest of the Titans eagerly took part in the battle, with the five stationed in the T-Sub firing the sub's blasters left and right, Aqualad letting loose with his hydrokinesis and occasionally pointing the attacking fantastical sea creatures in the right direction, and Beast Boy viciously attacking the Trench with all the power of his shark, dolphin, and sailfish forms, with the occasional attack from his octopus, manta ray, and electric eel forms added into the mix as well.

"Booyah!" Cyborg yelled as he fired his compartment's blasters mercilessly at whatever luckless Trench happened to end up in the crosshairs. The other Titans in the T-sub were comparatively more restrained. Raven and Terra, however, also occasionally added their own elemental powers to the mix from within the safety of their compartments.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," Raven hissed, using her powers to zap three squadrons of Trench into oblivion with a maelstrom of shadowy lightning.

"You call yourselves Trench?" Terra growled, her eyes and hands glowing. "I'll give you a trench!" She summoned a fissure right underneath a charging group of Trench, causing them to fall in due to being too caught off guard to try swimming upwards before Terra then sealed it closed, crushing the luckless Trench warriors in the process.

Aqualad and Beast Boy, meanwhile, continued to utterly trounce the Trench warriors they encountered, sending the Trench right within reach of attacks from the fantastical sea creatures just as much as they took out Trench warriors directly with their own attacks.

"I'll teach you to try to make a meal out of me," Beast Boy hissed as he bit a Trench warrior with the teeth of his great white shark form, swung it around, and then smacked it away with his tail just in time for it to then be set upon and torn apart by a trio of akhluts.

Aqualad, meanwhile, took a battle ready stance right in front of an entire squadron of Trench warriors that was now rushing towards him. "I summon the power of the tempest!" He thrusted both hands forward immediately after yelling this, sending a giant beam of ocean current rocketing from his hands at the Trench squadron, sending them all flying backwards just in time to subsequently get engulfed in a burst of lava spewed out at them from the mouth of a nearby akupara.

The Titans were not the only young warriors who were laying down the law on the Trench warriors either. Tramm was also still letting any Trench warriors that approached him have it. But unlike Tula and the other soldiers of the Poseidonis army, he was clearly starting to get tired and sloppy, his blows starting to become wilder and more aimless. Eventually, he sent himself stumbling off balance, and a six-member group of Trench that had surrounded him instantly lunged on him all at once, pinning him to the sea floor in a vicious dogpile.

"So this is how I die," Tramm thought to himself. He closed his eyes and braced himself, hoping that the subsequent ripping to shreds, likely preceded by paralysis from the Trench warriors' venomous spit, wouldn't take too long to finish.

As it so happened, the Trench were all too eager to just up and kill him swiftly without even trying to paralyze him in their current mindless state brought about by their being in blood frenzy. The 'leader' of the six who'd now pinned down Tramm snarled, and lifted its right hand claws as if about to decapitate the young Atlantean…

…only for its wrist to suddenly be grabbed and yanked into snapping by a large green hand that was otherwise very similar in appearance to Tramm's. The Trench warrior hissed in pain as its wrist was snapped, and then it shrieked in surprise as it was yanked right off of Tramm and slammed down on its back before the one who'd grabbed its wrest abruptly jumped onto it, both feet pounding against its throat with an ominous crack.

The other five Trench warriors pinning down Tramm had just enough time to hiss in surprise at this development, and Tramm had enough time to open his eyes and find them widening at the sight of just who had now arrived before the now quite furious La'gaan roared at the remaining Trench warriors endangering his brother and surged forward to take them out.

Two of the Trench warriors had just enough time to raise their clawed hands as if to strike, hissing in challenge, before La'gaan abruptly grabbed them by the heads and banged them together. The two Trench in question had just enough time to raise their heads, hissing in pain with their eyes closed as they prepared to try to get back up on their feet, before La'gaan then grabbed one of them by the head and wrenched it a full 180, fatally snapping its neck. The other Trench had just enough time to hiss in surprise before La'gaan grabbed it by the inside of its jaw and then just as violently forcing its mouth open to the point of snapping its jaw, killing it as well. Another Trench crouched down, snarling as it prepared to lunge at La'gaan, only for the enraged expanded humanoid fish to abruptly thrust his right fist at it, punching it in the chest so hard that his fist went right _through_ the Trench warrior's chest and punched out its heart. Another one of the remaining Trench warriors near Tramm lunged, only for La'gaan to grab it by the cranial fin and then punch it in the throat, managing in the process to behead it completely by accident. At this point, the one single Trench warrior still standing upon Tramm was feeling quite understandably unnerved, and quickly tried to back away, only for La'gaan to then grab it by the throat, yank it upwards, and then squeeze tightly until the luckless Trench finally stopped struggling, dead as a dodo.

With the last of the six Trench who'd been threatening Tramm dead, La'gaan tossed its limp body aside and lowered his hand for Tramm to grab. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "What do you say we kick Trench butt together little bro?"

Tramm briefly gaped, and then grinned. He was certainly down for beating up more Trench with his brother before he allowed himself to express his full gratitude over his brother's return. "Booyah," he growled, eager to take his brother up on this offer. La'gaan chuckled, helped his little brother back on his feet, and then the two expanded in size brothers went charging off towards another nearby squadron of Trench, roaring animalistically in challenge as they prepared to attack.

Meanwhile, the Titans, sea monsters, and Poseidonian soldiers all continued to furiously battle the Trench warriors. And at this point, it was becoming increasingly clear that the tide had thoroughly turned against the Trench. Every which way, the Trench warriors present could be seen being completely overwhelmed. For even despite still being in their blood frenzy, they had all clearly met their match as they were struck down by the reinvigorated Poseidonian soldiers, Tramm and La'gaan, and Beast Boy, blasted to oblivion by Tula, Aqualad, the other Poseidonian spellcasters, and the Titans in the T-Sub, or battered, torn apart, blasted, and even downright swallowed whole by the various fantastical sea animals.

But then Aqualad caught a glimpse of an unrelated blast out of the corner of his eyes, and he turned his head, eyes narrowing upon catching sight of none other than Trident still in the midst of his duel with Aquaman and Mera. "You," he growled to himself under his breath at the sight of his old foe. He tensed himself, preparing to lunge off in the direction of where Trident was.

"You found him to huh?"

Aqualad turned his head towards Beast Boy, who was now hovering nearby in humpbacked whale mode. "Yes."

"Good."

Beast Boy shifted into a sailfish. "Because this time, after all he's done to make your life miserable and Kaldur's 2nd life get off to a terrible start, he's yours." The shape shifter darted away, leading a squadron of Trench to pursue him, only for the Trench warriors in question to be summarily bitten and torn apart by multiple ningen.

Aqualad smiled. "Thank you Beast Boy," he stated. He then briefly accessed his telepathy again, but this time to speak to Kaldur. "Kaldur?"

"Yes?"

"I'm about to take on Trident. You ready?"

"You had me the moment you mentioned Trident."

"Excellent."

Aqualad immediately darted off in Trident's direction, ready to take the fight to him personally. "I'll bring the lead up, and then you'll deal the final blow when I give the signal."

"Exactly as planned. I'll be waiting."

. . . . .

Trident continued his vicious duel against the rulers of Atlantis, his teeth gritted into a feral snarl as he continued slashing and blasting at Aquaman and Mera. With an inarticulate roar of rage, he swung his trident at Aquaman once more. Just like the last few times he'd tried this, his attack was blocked with Aquaman's own trident. The villain had just enough time to hiss in rage before he was then sent flying backward by a burst of ocean current sent his way from Mera's hands.

The Tritonian had just enough time to hiss in discomfort and right himself after he'd finally to a stop before he then heard Aquaman's voice once again. "It's over Trident." The villain growled, glaring hatefully at the rulers of Atlantis as they stood about two yards ahead of him, trident and imminent spell pointing towards him and at the ready to fire. "You've already lost. And even if you were to somehow defeat me and Mera in this battle, there'd be nothing meaningful for you to gain from such a victory."

"Stand down and allow yourself to be willingly subjected to Atlantean justice," said Mera, her voice filled with the same firm, but reasonable, tone as her husband. "This is the last chance you'll get from us for a peaceful end to this fight."

Trident's response was to let out another inarticulate roar of rage, and then lunge forward again, trident at the ready to thrust forward…only to then be caught in midair by another blast of ocean current and sent flying backward off balance yet again. But this time Aquaman and Mera were just as caught off guard as Trident; for this burst of current had not come from Mera.

"You heard what your queen said!"

Aquaman and Mera instantly turned their heads in the direction of this familiar voice, only now belatedly realizing that none other than Garth himself had finally returned in time to aid in the battle. They looked towards the battlefield behind them, now finally noticing the presence of La'gaan, a green orca whale, and an orange aquatic vessel that they'd been too distracted by their battle against Trident to notice before. Aquaman found himself letting a small smile come to his face. "I knew he'd make it back eventually," he thought to himself, now feeling even more proud of his old protégé than before.

Mera also found herself nodding with a look of approval on her face. "It seems Arthur made a very good choice of people to entrust Garth with securing aid from indeed." She then let a warm smile come on her face at the sight of La'gaan rampaging alongside the similarly roaring and snarling Tramm as they worked alongside the Titans, sea monsters, and Poseidonian soldiers to chase the remainder of the Trench forces off the battlefield altogether. "And they even found and brought back La'gaan. Already this day is starting to get considerably better than it was."

"You've already lost! So I'll say it again, stand down!"

The two rulers looked back in Trident and Aqualad's direction in time for Aqualad to continue. "This is your last chance to get out of this peacefully with even half favorable chances of staying alive! If you're smart, then take it!"

"NEVER!"

With an inarticulate roar of rage, Trident lunged at his younger foe, his trident already swinging towards the boy in a savage slash. Aqualad hurriedly darted backwards just in time to avoid getting sliced across his stomach by Trident's namesake weapon. He soon found himself continuing to have to move further backwards as Trident proceeded to swing his weapon at him multiple other times in quick succession.

The sight of one of his earliest proteges now in such clear need of help was enough to spur Aquaman back into action. He clenched his right fist and literal left hook around his trident. "You've already killed one protégé of mine," he thought viciously to himself. "I'll be damned if I let you kill a second!" He lunged forward, a harsh roar spewing from his mouth and his own trident at the ready to fire at the villainous upstart who dared to attack his former ward.

The sight of her husband resuming his attack on Trident in defense of Aqualad was enough to spur Mera into darting in Trident's direction as well, already rapidly preparing another spell. "Garth is just as much my son as Artur," she thought to herself. "And so was Kaldur. I'll defend Garth to the death if I must."

Trident was just about to try to attack Aqualad once more, but this time with a jabbing thrust attack instead of a slash, only to then be blasted aside by a burst of lightning from Aquaman's trident. Trident didn't even have time to fully register the fact that he'd just gotten blasted by Aquaman before he was then sent hurtling upwards completely off balance by a powerful geyser blast Mera caused to erupt from directly underneath him. It took everything Trident had not to lose his grip on his namesake weapon. When the geyser finally shut off, Trident had just enough time to look downward and snarl hatefully at the two Atlantean rulers and their former ward before he was suddenly pounded in the back by a heavy presence and sent tumbling back down to the sea floor with a thud.

The very same naga that had initially been serving as his mind controlled mount hissed at him, its teeth gritted, and its eyes narrowed hatefully at the sight of its former rider that it had now smacked down to the sea floor with its tail. Its mate, whom it had now finally reunited with by virtue of her being amongst the other 9 nagas that had shown up amongst the mass gathering of sea monsters was right there next to it, clearly just as eager as its mate to give Trident a serious beating; albeit, for much different reasons compared to its mate.

Trident got back on his feet, snarling hatefully at both the three Atlanteans who'd already been attacking him _and_ the two nagas who'd now decided to join in before he then heard running feet coming towards him from his left alongside a throaty inarticulate roar. He turned his head in that direction just in time to be pounded right in the face by the charging Tramm's surprisingly powerful left hook. Trident was still stumbling to the side from this when he was suddenly grabbed from behind, lifted off his feet, and slammed down hard as he fell victim to a powerful suplex from La'gaan.

Trident was literally _just_ starting to try to get back on his feet, when Tramm, having already rushed over to him while La'gaan was still in the act of treating him to the suplex, jumped on him, his feet pounding against his back and slamming him face first against the seafloor all over again. The villainous Tritonian had just enough time to gurgle and groan from this attack before he was suddenly grabbed by the ankle by what looked like a watery tendril.

The tendril suddenly yanked Trident up in the air, the villain hissing in shock at being abruptly airborne yet again. Then the tendril started lashing around in all directions, dragging the hissing and shrieking Trident helplessly the entire time while also occasionally pounding him against the sea floor and nearby cliff walls. As this happened, the one responsible for the tendril kept her focus as intact as possible, her brow furrowed, glowing eyes narrowed, and entire body moving as needed as she continued thrashing Trident around with her spell. Needless to say, Tula was very happy indeed to finally vent what still remained of her grief and rage at Trident over his murder of Kaldur, and on Trident himself no less!

Eventually, with a final emphatic downward pound against the sea floor, Tula finally dismissed the watery tendril, swimming into position directly next to where Mera was still standing. When Trident got up, he briefly found his eyes widening in shock and a slight twinge of fear as he noticed that, once he'd successfully accounted for all six of the Atlanteans that had now attacked him, plus the two nagas, he was now surrounded. But then he let his earlier rage at how badly his plans were now failing and his dreams were yet again rapidly flying out of his reach return, and with clenched fists, he reclaimed his trident, growled hatefully, and got back to his feet, his teeth gritted into a silent snarl of pure loathing.

Aquaman narrowed his eyes, and pointed his own trident straight at the villainous Tritonian, the rest of the combatants present similarly preparing their spells, fists, and fangs as well. "It's over Trident," the king of Atlantis stated bluntly. "That much has been made clear multiple times over by now. This is the only time I'll make you this new offer. Throw down your weapon, let us take you willingly to Poseidonis to face judgment, and I'll allow your sentence to be swift."

Trident growled, clearly far from in the mood to take Aquaman up on this offer, and he clenched his fists around his namesake weapon. "I'd…rather…die."

"Then die you shall."

As one, they all looked to Aqualad, who now had a determined look on his face, dark eyes narrowed and starting to show signs of a purple glow, and an orb of water forming and charging up in his hands as he prepared to cast what seemed to be shaping up to be a very powerful spell. He abruptly snapped his hands upward. "I SUMMON THE POWER OF THE TEMPEST!"

The water orb in his hands burst into a shockwave of water that then slowly started contorting and coalescing into a giant watery construct. Trident snarled, and fired his trident at Aqualad, hoping to take him out before the construct was fully formed. But a massive slab of stone abruptly rose up in front of Aqualad before the lightning blast could hit him, and it was reflected right back at Trident, knocking him on his back.

Terra glared in the direction where Trident was located her glowing eyes narrowed as she kept the barrier she'd summoned in place. "Nobody kills my boyfriend on my watch," she thought viciously to herself.

Aqualad smirked as he continued forming his summoned construct from behind the barrier Terra had raised. "Thank you very much Tara," he thought to himself. Eventually, the construct finished forming, revealing itself to now be in the shape of a giant sea serpent, at which point it thrusted its head in Trident's direction and roared harshly in challenge.

Beast Boy and the other Titans all gaped in awe at the sight of this. "Dude," Beast Boy thought to himself, his dolphin form's eyes widened as he gawked at the massive construct. "When did you learn to do that?!" Even Terra was awed enough by her boyfriend's new display of power that she lost focus on keeping her powers active, and the barrier she'd summoned crumbled to dust.

Even the rest of the combatants already surrounding Trident seemed impressed by Aqualad's construct, although the two nagas noticeably still seemed a little more concerned with keeping their focus on Trident than on the construct. Mera even nodded her head, as she could remember how much Aqualad had struggled immensely at forming constructs during his magic lessons at the academy. "You have gone very far indeed," she thought to herself, clearly proud of her husband's old protégé.

Even Trident found himself nodding his head in grudging respect. "You have become quite powerful," he stated. He pointed his trident at Aqualad. "But with lightning on my side, it will take far more than just another water-based attack to take me down."

"Then good thing I have lightning on my side as well," Aqualad growled before abruptly placing his finger against the side of his head and closing his eyes. "That's your cue," he telepathically stated.

"Oh really now?" Trident asked, an arrogant look of disbelief in his eyes. "And just how might _that_ be possible you little…"

The water construct opened its mouth, roaring savagely in the process as what looked like a small portal took shape inside its gaping jaws. Trident had just enough time for his eyes to widen before two gigantic bolts of lightning suddenly burst from the portal in the construct's jaws and slammed into Trident.

The villainous Tritonian howled in agony as he was violently electrocuted, his trident falling from his hands. Tula, quick to react upon seeing this detail, summoned another watery tendril to grab the trident and lash it against the sea cliff wall behind her, snapping the weapon in half from the impact. Trident, meanwhile, continued to scream from the merciless electrocution he was getting, too consumed in agony from the experience to even notice how his namesake weapon had been destroyed. Tula and the rest of the group surrounding the villain remained where they were, watching intently as their hated enemy got his just desserts. Even the Titans, Vulko, Topo, the remainder of the Poseidonian army, and the massive makeshift army of fantastical sea creatures stayed still and gaped in awe at the spectacle. Even Kaldur couldn't help but smirk as he continued pouring lightning from his water bearers into his end of the portal that Aqualad was using to transport the electrical attack and channel it through the construct. "Now you know _exactly_ how I felt when you killed me you scaly son of a shrimp," he whispered to himself under his breath.

After what felt like an eternity, the devastating attack finally ended, and Trident crumpled to the floor, horribly burned and heavily wheezing, but miraculously still alive! At first, all the other occupants directly present in the area raised their eyebrows or similarly expressed confusion. Why had Aqualad not fully finished Trident off despite his seeming intent to grant Trident's implied wish to die in combat? But then they all looked at Aqualad in time to see him direct a smug glance directly at the two nagas that were amongst the circle of combatants directly surrounding Trident, and then looked in that direction themselves in time to see the two nagas in question suddenly seem to come to a realization before directing a meaningful look towards Trident, a hungry look in their eyes, and it all became clear. Aquaman found himself nodding, a half surprised, yet also half approving, look in his eyes. "Interesting choice of sentencing," he thought to himself.

Trident eventually managed to regain just enough energy to lift his head off the ground and glare half hatefully and half smugly in Aqualad's direction. "You pathetic little child," he hissed. "I'll admit, you had me fooled. But I suppose I should have known that you still wouldn't have the guts to finish the job and actually kill me."

"You are mistaken," said Garth, a smirk forming on his face as the construct finally finished fading away and the purple glow finally left his eyes. "I would have been more than happy to finish the job. But I just wanted you to have just enough life left in you for the ones I chose to be your direct executioners in my place to have heightened enjoyment in the matter."

Trident raised his eyebrow in confusion. "What are you talking about…?"

The sound of hungry growling from behind him caused him to pause, eyes widened in horror as he suddenly remembered one particularly important detail. "No," he whispered. He turned his head, and then blanched at the sight of the two nagas staring down at him, a disturbingly gleeful look on their faces as they licked their chops.

The female naga looked to her mate, eyes narrowed. "This is him?"

The male that had formerly served as Trident's mount under Starro's mind control nodded. "Yes my love," he stated. "This is the one who took me from you. I still don't know how. But he nonetheless did so."

"I am glad to hear this." The female licked her chops once more. "I am hungry."

"As am I," her mate responded, chuckling maliciously with a wolf-like grin on his face.

Trident, now clearly starting to look just the slightest bit more outwardly fearful, started slowly crawling backwards to try to put distance between him and the mated naga pair. "No," he thought to himself as the nagas in question only proceeded to slowly follow him. "No, this isn't happening. This isn't happening!"

"We are gathered to pass judgment."

Trident turned his head to look behind him at the sound of Aquaman's voice, just in time to notice that the king of Atlantis had placed the pointed end of his trident down on the sea floor and had his hands clenched upon the tip of the handle as if it were a king's scepter. Mera also stood at attention by her husband's side, a pokerfaced look on her face similar to that of a judge about to pass a sentence. Vulko, meanwhile he could now see coming to a stop to the king's left, his war scepter clenched tightly in his left hand.

"You have been tried," Aquaman continued. "And you are hereby found guilty as charged for the crimes of high treason, disturbance of the peace, and the murder of Kaldur`ahm of Poseidonis. And as you seem to quite simply be adamant on disrespecting my authority otherwise, I grant you your last wish." He pointed his trident at the now visibly shaking Tritonian. "You are hereby sentenced to death."

Vulko raised his scepter, and then banged the bottom tip of it on the sea floor twice. "Our king has spoken," he yelled. "Today your crimes shall be paid for with your life!"

In that instant, the two nagas roared. Trident's eyes widened, and his face blanched again in complete terror. Already he knew exactly what he was in for. "No! No! NO," he managed to yell before he was suddenly bitten on the legs and rapidly yanked backwards by the female naga. The male naga turning around to follow after his mate.

As the Atlanteans and sea monsters all watched the spectacle starting to unfold, and Beast Boy found himself awkwardly hovering a few feet away in octopus form in complete uncertainty over just what he was supposed to do, Robin briefly found himself reaching for the 'move forward' lever in his compartment in a brief moment of impulsiveness.

"Don't."

Robin paused; his masked eyes narrowed upon hearing Raven's voice. "Raven, we have to," he stated. "What's about to happen right there with Trident and those nagas? That's not what we do…"

"You want to tell that to them?" Cyborg asked, clearly referring to the nagas, which were now already at the point where the female had repositioned her jaws further up Trident's body to the point that she now had the entirety of the villain's legs and backside positioned inside her mouth while the male similarly had his teeth completely encased around his former rider's head, arms, and upper body, leaving only a small portion of Trident's torso visible between the two sea monsters.

Robin winced at the sight, but then his reflexive sense of responsibility combined with Batman's teachings once again took control. "Cyborg, I'm serious. We don't kill…"

"It's not our place to decide this time."

"Exactly," Robin reflexively stated in agreement with Star. But then he paused as he realized just what his girlfriend had actually said. "Wait, what did you say?"

"Whether or not Trident lives or dies right now is not our call to make," Starfire stated. "Not anymore."

"She's right," said Terra. Robin looked directly at Terra's pod, and the blonde geomancer nodded. "Didn't you hear what Aquaman said? This is a matter of Atlantean law, and Trident's now been sentenced under the king's own authority. Like it or not, what happens to him now is completely out of our hands at this point."

"What she said," Raven agreed. "This is just like when we were there at Cometbolt's execution. The whole thing's completely out of our jurisdiction at this point. If we try to intervene now, we could start a war."

"You hearing all this BB?" Cyborg asked, his finger still on the trigger to allow everything said aloud by the T-Sub's occupants to be broadcast through the ship's outer speakers. The green octopus nodded 'yes', his inability to telepathically communicate with his non-Atlantean teammates leaving him with no other means to acknowledge that he'd heard what they were saying.

"Listen to friend Raven," said Starfire. "Regardless of our own personal morals, we must stay back and let the Atlantean justice be carried out without interference."

Robin thought to himself, considering what his friends had said and slowly allowing his more reasonable side to finally reassert itself over his initial impulsive urge to stick to the established team moral code. "Right, of course. My bad." He winced, his eyes shut, and mentally facepalmed over how he'd briefly let his own personal morals cloud out his more reasonable side for this situation.

"You can close your eyes or look away if you want," Terra offered.

"Thanks Terra," said Robin. "But I think I'll be able to handle this. Believe me, I saw some _much_ worse stuff go on back in Gotham City. But again, thank you."

Trident screamed, and the titans all allowed their gaze to once again join that of the assembled Atlanteans and sea monsters as the two nagas continued to pull on Trident with their jaws in a bizarre tug-o-war, the villainous Tritonian screaming in increasingly high levels of agony as he felt himself being pulled in those two separate directions combined with the sensation of the naga's sharp fangs sticking deep into his flesh and his face pressed right up against his former mount's now very actively salivating tongue.

But then, after what felt like an hour to all parties, the two nagas finally managed, with a sickening 'SPLAT' to completely the screaming Trident in half, chomping and gnawing in delight as they chewed up the respective halves of him they had in their mouths and eventually swallowed, a misty cloud of what was almost certainly Trident's blood hanging in the air between them as they ate.

Beast Boy, surprisingly enough, had already covered his eyes with his tentacles a solid minute before this moment. The Titans within the T-sub, however, briefly found themselves turning green and feeling sick. "Ok," said Terra. "I probably didn't need to see that."

"Agreed," Cyborg grumbled.

Even Raven and Starfire couldn't help but briefly look away despite the former's familiarity with a lot of bloody stuff as a result of her heritage and the latter's well versed knowledge of all manner of extraterrestrial stuff that could be considered almost as disgusting, if not more so, as what she'd now seen.

There were even a few Atlanteans that briefly felt nauseous from the sight of the gruesome death. But eventually, the two nagas finished their meal and the misty cloud of Trident's blood dissipated away. The nagas looked to Aquaman. The king of Atlantis nodded his head. "Thank you," he said to them telepathically. "You, your brethren, and the various others not of your kin that have helped me today have all done Atlantis a great service. And as the Karathen's friend, I am grateful for your help." He turned his head to look at the rest of the fantastical sea animals, expanding his telepathic reach to account for all of them. "For all your help." He then gestured towards the open ocean away from the battlefield. "As an act of good will for your help, I grant you all the freedom to leave peacefully and return to your home waters. If I ever need your aid once more, I shall call upon you."

The various sea monsters and other legendary aquatic animals all nodded their heads, letting out their respective vocalizations in the process. "Our ears shall be open for your call, Karathen's friend," they all telepathically stated in unison. They bowed their heads. "May the currents be smooth in your travels."

"And may Neptune smile and rain good fortune upon yours," Aquaman responded. He nodded his head. "Farewell."

"Farewell."

As one, the countless assorted fantastical sea animals turned and began to swim away in departure from the battlefield, peacefully leaving in respect for the 'Karathen's friend's' wishes as they set out to return to the widespread oceanic environments from which they'd come. Once the vast army of sea monsters had all reached the very edge of the battlefield in the direction from which they'd entered, all the Atlanteans looked at Aqualad, who smiled half nervously and half joyously, rubbing the back of his head in the process.

"Sorry I was late," he stated sheepishly. "I was briefly waylaid for a while by some unfinished business involving my uncle's old cult…"

Before he could finish, he was abruptly sent briefly stumbling off balance when Tula rushed over and gave him a tight hug. She briefly sniffled, her eyes close to tears of joy and her short ginger hair waving slightly in the current from her movement in reaching her current position. "Garth," she managed to say, her voice just barely above a whisper, finally allowing her pure unadulterated relief that her dear friend was indeed still alive and had made it to the battlefield in time to help to show now that the battle was over. "Thank Neptune you're alive."

Aqualad smiled, and returned his former crush's embrace. "I'm just as glad of the fact as you are Tula," he then said. The two friends broke their embrace, Aqualad gesturing towards his Titan teammates. "I brought the aid I promised."

"Indeed you did."

Aqualad looked over to his old mentor, who now nodded, clearly just as willing to show how happy and relieved he was at his former ward's safe return as Tula now that the war with Trident was over. "And it couldn't have come at a more appropriate time. And the fact that you were also able to have the Joppa whales I initially called upon to serve as a last ditch scenario plus a variety of other living legends that came to join the Joppa whales despite my not originally calling for them is likewise appreciated."

"Couldn't agree more my king," said Tula. She looked in the direction of Beast Boy and the T-sub, her gaze focusing particularly strongly on the former. "So you're the green shape shifter Garth told me about," she telepathically stated.

The green octopus's eyes briefly widened, clearly caught off guard by the sound of Tula's telepathic voice in his head. But then he recovered, and he nodded his head. "Yep. That's me madame." He lifted one of his tentacles in a style similar to a military salute, a very hilarious sight to behold. "Beast Boy of Jump City, at your service."

Tula chuckled, and shook her head side to side. "It's very nice to meet you as well." She then looked to the T-sub. She raised her eyebrow, only now remembering a certain seemingly quite minor detail that Garth had brought up in one of his prior visits to Atlantis before this current moment. She looked over to her friend, a cheeky look on her face. "So Garth," she purred. "Would I be correct in presuming that you brought along that surface dweller princess you're now dating?"

Aqualad briefly tensed up, his face turning red, clearly flustered by what Tula had just asked. Then he nervously chuckled, rubbing the back of his head with his left hand in the process. "Yes," he responded. "I did." He pointed at the center compartment. "She's right there in the sub with the other surface dwellers I brought along to aid us alongside Beast Boy."

"That's good." Tula nodded. "I'll admit, ever since you told me that you'd made plans to bring her along on one of your future visits here, I've been looking forward very much to meeting her."

"I'm sure that she'll be well worth the wait," Aqualad agreed. "Not to mention so will the rest of my friends I brought along."

"They are certainly already well worth the respect I allowed myself to have for them."

Aqualad and Tula jolted in shock, turning around to look back in the direction of their king, who currently had an amused look on his face over the very casual matter they'd just now been openly referring to in his presence during what was arguably supposed to be a somewhat serious moment. Several random Atlantean soldiers also had their eyebrows raised. Aqualad and Tula chuckled nervously, both of them rubbing the backs of their heads sheepishly.

"Oops. Sorry about that," said Aqualad.

"Apologies my king," said Tula.

"It is fine."

Aquaman nodded his head. "I'm sure that you and all your friends will be able to have a nice long talk together later. But for now, it is high time we make our way back to Poseidonis." He gestured towards Aqualad's fellow Titans. "And yes, your surface dwelling allies are free to join us there."

"SWEET!"

Aquaman and his two protégés turned their heads towards Beast Boy, who then literally turned white as a result of his octopus camouflage powers. "Uh, I mean, thank you, your highness, sir!" He then paused, awkwardly hovering around. "Um, how exactly does an octopus bow?"

The king of Atlantis chuckled, and looked back at Aqualad. "I'll admit, I'm already looking forward to perhaps getting to know these friends of yours a little more. Particularly since, from what I understand, one of them I actually do believe I already knew as a result of you having been friends with him already during his time under Batman's wing."

"I'm sure we'll all enjoy getting to know them," Mera agreed. She looked to Aqualad, a warm smile on her face. "And regardless, I am sure we are all very relieved that, as unexpectedly long as it took for you to do so, you nonetheless managed to arrive here safe and sound in time to help, and with them by your side and ready to help as well."

"Indeed true my queen," said Aqualad, briefly bowing his head. "And I can honestly swear that I would have been here much earlier. But Trident got wind of my work on getting the Titans here to provide aid and sent us off course. And then we got further waylaid by my uncle's old cult, and also by some psycho starfish the League founders once dealt with and your husband helped seal up; which my fellow Titans and I may have accidentally released the first time we dealt with Trident together…"

"I'm sure you have a very interesting story to tell us all indeed," said Vulko, a warm smile on his face as he gazed at his king's former ward.

"You can bet he does." They all looked towards La'gaan, who had his right hand raised and giving a 'thumbs up', his red eyes agleam and a toothy grin on his face. "And boy you wouldn't believe what I have to add on to that story!"

"Teehee!"

Tramm pounced onto La'gaan's back, wrapping his arms around his brother's shoulders. The older humanoid fish chuckled. "Yes, I know Tramm, it's been too long since I was last here. And trust me, your Titan friends and I have quite the story to tell you and the others."

"It's good to have you back as well La'gaan."

Tula nodded, and then looked at Aqualad. "I must now briefly ask though, where did you learn how to summon lightning?"

"I didn't."

Aqualad shook his head. "I just helped summon a focus point for the portals needed by the one who did."

"And who might that be?" Aquaman asked.

"That would be me my king."

As one, all the Atlanteans present turned their heads. And as one, all but Aqualad and La'gaan found their eyes widening in surprise at the sight of who they now saw descending down from a nearby cliff to a landing in front of Aquaman. Several of them started whispering to each other.

"Impossible," one of the soldiers whispered.

"He's dead," whispered another.

But the two rulers, their advisor, and even their faithful purple octopus companion, continued to silently gaze at Kaldur, stunned speechless at the sight of their old dead companion now standing miraculously alive before them. Especially after how Aquaman himself had actually been there to see him die, Mera and Vulko had arrived alongside Tula in time to see Aquaman and Garth cradling his body, and Topo himself had been amongst the crowd present to see his body lowered into its casket at the subsequent funeral.

But the arguably most stunned out of all the Atlanteans to react in such a way was Tula. She cautiously walked towards Kaldur, a partially nervous and guarded, and partially hopeful and near tears look on her face as she tentatively extended her right hand towards him at the same time. Kaldur noticed this, and turned his head to face her, his blonde hair, jarringly contrasting against his dark skin, agleam in the water. Tula came to a stop, staring half hopefully and half nervously at Kaldur.

"Kaldur?" She managed to say. "Is…is it really…you?"

Kaldur nodded his head, slipping his water bearers into his sheath as he then used his telepathy to broadcast a memory shared only by himself and her into her mind. "Yes Tula," he said at the same time he did so. "It's me."

Tula gasped, now finally letting joyous tears slide down her face, and she impulsively hugged Kaldur. The resurrected son of Black Manta returned the embrace, his head resting on top of hers. "But…you…I…how…?" Tula sputtered, eyes closed and tears still sliding slowly down her cheeks.

"I know you have lots of questions," Kaldur admitted. He looked to all the other Atlanteans, plus the 6 surface dwellers. "All of you." He nodded his head, and then he and Tula broke from their embrace. "And believe me, I'll be more than happy to explain it all alongside my friends, old and new, who have now helped you end this battle alongside me. But first, let us return to Poseidonis. I have reason to believe that my mother still lives there. And if that is in fact the case, then I want her to know that I'm back and to be present when I give that promised explanation."

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I'm REALLY hoping you enjoyed what I had to offer this chapter, especially after the long wait! And please feel free to leave a respectable amount of feedback! After all, as per usual, this chapter requires the bare minimum (I repeat MINIMUM) of 1 review before I allow the next chapter to be posted! Again, hope you all enjoyed, and are ready to continue seeing this story on to the end!**

 **Coming up Next: With the war against Trident finally finished, time for a victory celebration at Poseidonis!**


	18. The Victory Celebration

**Hey everybody! I daresay it's high time I finally update this story! Y'all agree? I certainly hope so, because here's the newest chapter! In this chapter, with the war against Trident over and Starro still out of commission, the time has come to celebrate at Poseidonis! Here's hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: Once again, I own nothing related to Teen Titans or anything else DC affiliated.**

 **Chapter 17:**

 **The Victory Celebration**

"Are you absolutely certain of this?"

"Yes Robin. I am."

Aquaman nodded his head. "Your concern and willingness to provide assistance is appreciated. But I can assure you that my people and I will be able to handle any repairs necessary now that the war is over ourselves."

"But what about Starro?" Robin asked. "And the abyssals? Surely you wouldn't mind if my teammates and I were to help you deal with them…"

"Robin, I know that Batman trained you to be as responsible as possible, but I'm serious. As much as I respect you and your team, it wouldn't be fair to myself or to you if I were to abuse it by having you constantly help me out in every little task. For now, I insist that you let my people and I figure out how best to handle Starro and the abyssals unless assistance from you or any other outside party becomes truly necessary."

"My husband is right," Mera agreed, nodding her head in the process. "You and the rest of Garth's friends from the surface who helped have already done plenty for us. You can leave the rest to us. And besides." She gestured towards the center of Poseidonis. "It has still been only an hour since we returned to Poseidonis and began the victory celebration. Now is the time to celebrate our victory and relax. Starro and the abyssals will be perfectly safely contained where our scouts have currently had them transferred at least long enough for when we get to work on deciding their fates later this evening."

"Indeed." Aquaman nodded his head, and then gestured with his hook hand towards where the main celebration was occurring. "Go join your friends and enjoy yourself. You've already done enough, and I will not take advantage of my own respect for you for the sake of making you provide even more help then you've already provided."

"Leave the remaining mess to clean up for us," Mera added. "It is not often ones in your line of work get the chance for a well deserved rest and period of casual enjoyment. Your friends have already accepted this chance and started taking full advantage of it. You'd be a fool not to do the same."

Robin took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "I suppose that's true enough." He looked back at Aquaman. "It's just that, well, I kind of happened to walk by where you were communicating with Batman earlier and overheard what was said, particularly how Batman insisted that you let my friends and I help for at least courtesy's sake." He briefly clenched his fist and gritted his teeth at the thought of that particular statement from his mentor. "And while I will freely admit that I'm not at all happy with him just up and volunteering us like that without any input from me or consideration of my own personal wishes, I can at least agree with him that it would be polite to at least offer to stick around long enough to at least provide some level of assistance in what still needs to be taken care of once the celebration today is over…"

"Is Batman the king of Atlantis?"

"No sir, he is not."

"Then go," Aquaman insisted. Once again pointing his hook in the direction of where the main victory party was currently unfolding. "Join your friends and enjoy yourself. You have earned it."

The king of Atlantis turned and left the area, Mera also departing right by her husband's side, leaving Robin standing awkwardly by himself in the alleyway where he'd been talking with them. The boy wonder eventually sighed. "If you say so." He turned and headed off to join his friends at the celebration.

As the two rulers of Atlantis made their way to where the scouts who'd been sent to retrieve Starro and the abyssals for the sake of transferal to the Poseidonis dungeon were now waiting for them alongside Vulko, Mera looked to her husband. "I'm sure your surface ally dressed like a bat will be far from pleased with you ignoring his request to have his old protégé and the rest of Garth's visiting surface dweller allies help in the post-war cleanup."

"Indeed," Aquaman agreed. "But as I've just made clear to Robin, I'm the king of Atlantis, not Batman. And besides, the current drama between Batman and Robin is something best left for themselves to deal with. Unofficial league leader or not, I am not letting him drag me into being a mouthpiece with which he can vent his frustrations against the poor boy, especially not if it means letting him have a say in matters that are best left in Atlantis's care."

"Too true," Mera agreed.

Aquaman briefly chuckled, and then returned his attention to the task at hand as he and his wife continued making their way to their current destination.

. . . . .

Topo banged his tentacles passionately against the drums he'd been assigned to play for the sake of the celebration. As much as he was happy with being the loyal ally and confidante to the king that he was, he was always especially happy when he got to make use of his talent in playing the drums of Atlantis. And there were plenty of citizens of Poseidonis who likewise enjoyed hearing him play. Admittedly though, listening to Topo's drum playing was far from the only activity currently being enjoyed by the celebrating Atlanteans.

One group of soldiers, for example, was currently watching what appeared to be a very intense arm wrestling match.

"Give up!" La'gaan yelled, his puffed up right palm pushing heavily against both of Cyborg's own metallic hands.

"Never," Cyborg grunted, growling from the effort it was currently taking for his own monstrous strength to fight against La'gaan's own fiendishly high strength as the humanoid fish worked furiously to defeat him in their arm wrestling match.

"Beat him La'gaan! Beat him!" Tramm yelled from his position amongst the onlookers, his words sounding like foreign gibberish to all ears that weren't his brother's.

"La'gaan! La'gaan! La'gaan!" Yelled half of the soldiers watching.

"You'd better not lose metal man!" Shouted one of the soldiers amongst the other half. "I've got money on you!"

Cyborg growled; his teeth gritted from the effort he was putting into his current task. "I'm…trying…my…best!"

La'gaan snarled, and doubled his efforts, Cyborg hissing and doing the same. Neither of the two arm wrestlers were remotely willing to lose.

Beast Boy, meanwhile, was having considerably more fun showing off his surprisingly great skill at working with children. Specifically, he was currently entertaining a massive gathering of Atlantean children by transforming into a variety of different animals, aquatic or otherwise, for their amusement while also letting them play with him. As of that moment, he was currently letting ten of the kids he was entertaining go on a stationary 'ride' on his back while he was in t-rex mode.

Raven, on the other hand, was largely keeping herself isolated from the larger group of partygoers in favor of trying her luck at meditating in the relatively quiet coral garden a few feet away from where Beast Boy was currently positioned. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," she repeated to herself as she worked to find her center and keep her demon and human sides balanced.

"Excuse me?"

Raven opened her eyes and looked to her right in time to see two Atlantean girls, one of them a blonde and the other with black hair, standing nearby.

"Garth says you have astral manipulation powers," said the blonde. "Is that true?"

Raven raised her eyebrow. "Yes," she stated bluntly.

The two Atlantean girls stepped aside, revealing a pale skinned girl with snowy white hair, gills, and webbed hands and feet. "Our friend Dolphin here has taken interest in improving her skill at such power," the black haired girl explained. "But the teachers at the Academy don't seem to be having much luck. She was wondering if you could perhaps maybe help her in a way that the instructors aren't."

Raven briefly raised her eyebrow at the sound of the white-haired girl's name, but respectfully chose not to further dig into the issue. "Why couldn't she ask me herself?"

"She's still not fully comfortable with speaking her words aloud," the blonde explained. "And the only other forms of communication she's fully fluent in and comfortable with are Atlantean sign language and echolocating like a dolphin."

As if to prove this point, the white haired girl let out a keening dolphin-like whistle.

The black haired girl nodded. "Plus, she's also uncomfortable with directly communicating with strangers, and you technically count as such to her. So she asked the two of us to help, since we're pals of hers from the Academy. But to make things short, if you're willing, we're sure she'd appreciate the help."

Raven thought to herself, simultaneously taking note of the hopeful and expectant look on Dolphin's face. She shrugged. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt." She beckoned for the girl to approach. "Come on." She said. "Let's get to work. I know just where to start." The three girls all reacted quite happily to this news, Dolphin even letting out a series of elated dolphin-like chirps and whistles.

Starfire, meanwhile, stood near the closest exit to the 'town center', waiting patiently for Robin to arrive. She had deliberately made sure to wait before fully getting herself involved with the festivities just so she'd be able to do it with Robin by her side. After all, she knew he'd arrive sooner or later.

And sure enough, when she heard walking feet coming towards her from outside where the party was taking place, she turned her head, a smile on her face, just in time to see none other than Robin come walking over. "You have returned," she stated happily.

Upon hearing this, the boy wonder couldn't help but smile. "Indeed I have." He then noticed what the rest of the founding titans were up to and smiled. "I see the others are having fun."

"Indeed they are," Starfire agreed. She grabbed her boyfriend's hand. "And now that you are here, so can we."

Robin chuckled. "Well then let's not keep you waiting Star."

Starfire giggled, and the titans' power couple made their way further into the town center. "Isn't this city truly marvelous?"

"I take it you like Atlantis?" Robin asked.

"Oh I surely do," Starfire responded. "It is remarkable that there are people from your planet who have adapted so well to life under the sea and advanced their society and technology so much comparatively further than the natives of Earth who still live above the ocean!"

"What can I say?" Robin stated truthfully. "Earth may look like an ordinary unremarkable planet, but I'd be lying if I were to say that this planet doesn't come with surprises for those who look in the right places."

"Very much the truth," Starfire agreed. She looked at Robin, gesturing with her free hand towards the celebration going on around them. "Tell me, is there anything in particular you wish for us to do?"

The boy wonder thought to himself, and then raised his eyebrow upon noticing a somewhat odd detail. "Where's Aqualad and Terra?"

"They are further down that way," Starfire responded, pointing in the direction of a path right next to the walls of the coral garden where Raven was located. "They wished to spend some time engaging in the conversation of friends with Kaldur and Tula."

"In that case," Robin stated. "If it's ok with you, there's something I'd like to talk with all four of them about. And once that's done, I've heard there's a very nice coral garden we could relax in by ourselves before the celebratory dance that's to unfold in about an hour from now."

. . . . .

"So…" Terra stated. "Any idea just what will happen to your grave site now that all this has unfolded?"

Kaldur shook his head side to side. "Your guess is as good as mine," he responded. He shrugged. "I'm sure we'll all need some time to think on the matter."

Tula chuckled, and gave her old betrothal subject a tender hug from where she sat right next to him. "Regardless," she then said, "it truly is joyous to have you back."

"I couldn't agree more."

The four younger individuals gathered in the area nearby where Kaldur's empty grave was located turned their heads to face Kaldur's mother. Sha'lain'a nodded, her golden hair moving gently about in the process. And indeed she was very happy that her son was back. She hadn't entirely wanted to believe it at first; and rather understandably so since she was so afraid of the crushing pain and heartbreak that would have ensued if he'd in fact turned out to not have truly returned. But in the end, after mere minutes in the presence of the miraculously resurrected Kaldur, she had managed to tell through sheer motherly instinct that her son truly had returned from the dead and was now back at Atlantis after only five years that had felt to her like a century. And she intended to make extra sure she got to spend as much time with her son as possible now that he was genuinely back from the dead.

She turned her head to face Aqualad. "I cannot thank you enough for bringing him home."

Aqualad raised his eyebrow in confusion. "But I'm not even the one who freed him from Starro's control. Or even the one who resurrected him."

"Nonetheless, I thank you." Sha'lain'a nodded her head. "I know how much you blamed yourself for what happened that day, and how much I myself may well have unconsciously contributed to you feeling that way. But now, regardless of how personally involved you were in the matter, my son has returned. And even if that weren't the case, the only one truly at fault for his death is now himself dead, and I myself had already come to terms and forgiven you for things that you frankly didn't deserve at least two years ago. Furthermore, my son was your best friend in his first life, and I am more than willing to allow him to stay as much in his 2nd life."

"Certainly don't see any problem there," Terra agreed. Tula chuckled to indicate her own agreement.

Sha'lain'a nodded once more, and then got up to her feet. "I'm sure that there is plenty more that you and I still have to talk about my son. But for now, I'd best excuse myself. I promised to help Tula's mother and several of the other cooks prepare the feast for today's celebration."

"I can help you if you want," Kaldur began, already preparing to rise from where he currently sat.

"Your willingness to help is appreciated," Sha'lain'a stated, already lifting her hand as if to signal her son to stop. "But I can assure you that Tula's mother and I will be perfectly fine."

"You are certain?"

"I insist."

She gestured towards Tula, Aqualad, and Terra. "After all, considering how much time you need to catch up on with your old friends, one of which now has a surface dwelling royal as his betrothal subject visiting here alongside him, and another of which you yourself were betrothed to before your earlier death threw a wrench into the whole business, why waste such a great opportunity to reacquaint yourself with your friends for the sake of _cooking_ of all things?"

Tula and Terra blushed, half flattered, and half embarrassed, by what Kaldur's mother had just stated involving betrothals. Aqualad facepalmed and groaned. "We're. Not. Betrothed."

"Not yet," Tula purred, a cheeky grin immediately coming on her face as she said this. Aqualad glared at her, and Terra chuckled.

"Well that's true," Kaldur stated hesitantly.

"And besides. We all know you can't cook."

Aqualad and Tula promptly burst out laughing at this unexpected reminder of how Kaldur indeed _was_ a terrible cook.

Kaldur sighed, rolling his eyes in mock annoyance. "You know me too well."

"As I should."

Sha'lain'a nodded her head, a warm look once again on her face. "What kind of mother would I be if I didn't know my own son?" She placed her hands on her son's shoulders. "Spend time with your friends," she stated firmly, but kindly. "You have earned it." She turned and departed to go help Tula's mother and the rest of the cooks as she'd said she would.

"I suppose Starro never saw it necessary to use you as a cook," Aqualad stated, his tone clearly indicating he was merely jesting in good fun.

Kaldur chuckled, and shook his head side to side. "I'd be careful about how often you make jokes like that right now Garth," he then said in a mock threat. He directed a cheeky grin at his best friend, pointing his finger at Terra in the process. "Get me annoyed enough, and I might very well ensure that I end up as head chef for your wedding with Terra."

Terra turned beet red, and Aqualad sighed in mock annoyance.

"You do realize that it will be at least another 3 or 4 years before that happens, right?" Aqualad asked.

"So you admit that it will indeed happen?" Tula asked, her own face filled with a cheeky grin very similar to Kaldur's.

"You know," Terra responded, "you're acting awfully interested in me and Garth getting married considering how you two still have some baggage to work out regarding your own wedding."

Kaldur and Tula promptly blushed themselves upon hearing the geomancer's comeback.

"Well…yes," Kaldur admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in the process. "I suppose that's true enough."

"I'll admit, there's definitely some kinks to work out considering how we were still in the midst of a multiple years-long betrothal before Kaldur's unfortunate…absence. Not to mention, there might also be some timing and age matters that will need to be worked out as well since, from my understanding, Kaldur did spend about two years inside that soul containment crystal before resurrection, and that might complicate matters when it comes to figuring out just how old he technically is now."

She nodded her head. "But hey, there's still a good couple years left before we both turn 21 years of age, and I'm sure we'll be able to work it all out before then."

"In other words, probably just enough time for me to marry Garth first," Terra stated.

"Excuse me?" Aqualad asked, eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Who said this had to be a race?" Kaldur asked, similarly confused.

"I did," Terra responded, cheeky grin on her face. "Starting right now."

"Oh we'll see about that," Tula purred, a confident look on her face as if she were daring Terra to stick to her new plan.

"Are we interrupting something?"

The three Atlanteans and single half Markovian turned their heads in time to see none other than Robin and Starfire standing nearby.

"Nope," Aqualad was quick to say. "We're good."

Terra raised her eyebrow at her boyfriend's quick work to change the subject, but otherwise didn't comment.

"I am surprised that you and Starfire aren't busy elsewhere taking part in the celebration," said Kaldur.

"Oh we're gonna get to that," Robin explained. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about first."

"Oh really now?" Tula asked.

"In that case, I'm all ears." Kaldur nodded his head, and then pointed his finger at Robin. What do you wish to talk about?"

Terra and Aqualad also directed their attention to Robin, genuinely curious as to what Robin wished to discuss with Kaldur and Tula.

The boy wonder took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "I understand that this is probably a lot earlier than should really be polite. After all, you've only been both alive and in your right mind for most of a single day. And I'm sure that you, Tula, and even La'gaan may very well be needed more at Atlantis than anywhere else. Especially La'gaan considering how long he's been missing from here and how much he really could use some time with Tramm."

He gazed straight at Kaldur. "However, with everything that's happened today, and how much I've heard about Tula and La'gaan from Garth, I genuinely believe that all three of you might very well deserve at least the chance to continue to help my team at some point or other in the future."

He drew out three spare T-comms, holding them into view so that Kaldur and Tula could get a good look at them. "Which is why, if you are willing, I'd like to offer you two, plus La'gaan, part-time honorary membership to the Titans."

Aqualad and Terra silently whistled, and looked each other in the eyes. They had to admit, it would certainly perhaps be interesting to have Kaldur, Tula, and La'gaan on the team alongside them, even if in a fashion slightly similar to the way Wonder Girl had joined the team. Then they both looked at Kaldur and Tula, who were now looking each other in the eyes as if considering what to say in response to Robin's offer. The boy wonder and his Tamaranean girlfriend similarly kept their focus on the two Atlanteans, half eager and half nervous as to how they'd respond.

Eventually, Kaldur and Tula looked back in Robin's direction. "Alright Robin," he said. "As you surface dwellers would say, I'll bite." He clasped his hands together, a poker faced look coming on his face as if he were a businessman preparing to start negotiations. "Shall we discuss terms?"

The four active Titans looked each other in the eyes. Admittedly, all prior membership offers to the team had never come with negotiation sessions. But on the other hand, at least Kaldur and Tula were willing to entertain the idea of being part-time Titans. They all looked at Kaldur and Tula. They certainly had time to talk some more on the matter before the dance. "Sure," Robin replied, a wide grin forming on his face. "Anything in particular you'd like to ask about?"

 **And just like that, new chapter! Hope you all enjoyed! Especially since all that's left now is an epilogue before this story comes to an end. I'll admit, this story has taken a lot longer to finish writing than I initially thought (and there are days where I honestly worry every now and then about all the fanfic ideas I have), but I've nonetheless had a fun ride with this story and I hope that you have as well, and that we all continue to have fun with the stories that I** ** _do_** **successfully write after this one! All in all, here's to hoping you enjoyed this latest chapter and that you leave plenty of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of 1 review for this chapter before I allow the epilogue to be posted upon its completion!**

 **Coming up Next: With times of peace once again in full swing at Atlantis, a single...loose end...is summarily taken care of before the story finally comes to an end.**


	19. Epilogue

**Hey everyone! I hope you're ready for the end of The Enemy Below, because here it is! With one last loose end to tie up, lets not delay the inevitable. Here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, just let me remind you once again that I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC based. Ok? Good. Onward we go!**

 **Epilogue**

Aquaman narrowed his eyes, half concerned, and half intrigued. "You are certain of this John?"

"Very much."

The Martian Manhunter nodded his head, a firm look on his green face and red eyes. "I looked very carefully through his memories. And I was especially careful not to wake him up from the slumber he was in at the time. Wonder Woman even made sure to use her lasso on him to the best of her abilities in his current state while I was examining his mind. What the other founders and I have decided based upon both my readings and the Titans' own words to you about their experiences is the best option on what to do with Starro."

"Indeed."

The Green Lantern Hal Jordan nodded his head. The way he saw it, what was currently planned to be done to Starro seemed like the wisest option for several reasons. For one, as long as he remained on Earth, the chances were all too high that he'd remain angry and eager to somehow continue his current grief, rage, and betrayal fueled desire to subjugate the planet in a misguided attempt to make it fit his proper definition of a 'home' for himself. Furthermore, not only would their current plan allow them to avoid killing Starro, but it was also possible, assuming he had indeed been truthful in his claims to the Tamaranean princess, that he would indeed be more than willing to wipe his hands of Earth and never threaten the planet or its inhabitants ever again. He then lifted up one of the League issue mother boxes that Orion had helped design just for purposes like this. "And now that we also know for sure exactly where to send him, this will allow us to transport him fast enough to prevent any possible attempts on his part to betray us in the process."

It had been a week now since the Titans had successfully helped Aquaman defeat Trident and save Atlantis. The founding Titans, plus Aqualad and Terra, had now long since returned to their respective home bases, leaving Tramm, La'gaan, Kaldur, and Tula to continue helping Aquaman keep things in order under the sea. And of course, all the abyssals had since been subjected to appropriate sentencing under Atlantean law. But now, all that was left to be done was to take care of Starro. And now, as the two League founders currently meeting with Aquaman had made clear, the League had very much made its decision on the matter.

Aquaman looked over at the frozen Starro, thought carefully to himself, and then looked back at the two visiting League founders. "And the other founders indeed approve of this idea?"

"The majority of them do," Hal responded. He nodded his head. "Wonder Woman is confident that her lasso had the desired effect when she used it during John's mind reading on him, and so she agreed to it. Superman sympathizes with his backstory and believes that our current plan is about the most humane nonlethal thing we can do to him other than letting him be kept in that weird zoo Superman has in that arctic fortress of his, so he agrees. And Flash? Well, with his history of doing everything he can to resolve issues with his enemies as relatively peaceful as possible and without resorting to violence if it can be avoided, I really doubt anyone would at all be surprised to know that he agreed."

Aquaman raised his eyebrow. "I'm presuming that this means Hawkwoman and Batman weren't completely on board?"

"That is correct."

The Martian Manhunter nodded his head. "Hawkwoman was very reluctant to allow Starro a 'slap on the wrist' like this on account of how her and Hawkman's past experiences with the Gordanians have left her very wary of trusting any sort of invaders. And Batman believed that subjecting him to what we're currently planning would be both far too lenient and also make it considerably more difficult for us to keep an eye on him than he'd be if we kept him somewhere here on Earth."

Aquaman thought to himself. "I will admit, he's not entirely wrong to think so."

"Be that as it may, the majority agreed to our current plan."

Hal nodded his head. "And if its any consolation, I consulted the Guardians of the Universe, and I have their word on good faith that we can arrange for the Lantern responsible for the sector we're sending Starro to keep an eye on him as well as keep tabs on the whole thing with me and the rest of the Lanterns amongst the League. I know it's not quite the same as having him personally looked after by the League itself, but it's better than not having anyone to watch him at all."

The Martian Manhunter nodded his head to indicate his own agreement on the matter. "If this plan indeed works, I am confident that the rewards will outweigh the risks."

Aquaman thought to himself some more, then looked back at Starro, and then sighed. "I'm still not entirely certain that I fully like this idea." He shook his head side to side. "But I'm not going to argue with the rest of the League if they've already made up their minds." He looked back at Hal and the Martian Manhunter. "Alright, I'll allow you to take care of him as you've currently decided to do so. But make it quick now, before I change my mind."

"Consider it done," said the Green Lantern. He lifted the mother box higher into his line of sight, already pressing the necessary buttons that would trigger the boom tube that would transport Starro off world.

. . . . .

"Are you ok Star?"

Starfire briefly tensed up in surprise, and then looked behind her, relaxing instantly upon catching sight of Robin standing behind her.

"Yes Robin," she responded. "I am the fine." She turned her head to resume her gaze towards the starry night sky that she'd been watching from where she currently sat at the edge of Titans' Tower's roof. "I was just, watching the stars."

"I can see that."

The Boy Wonder took a seat directly to his girlfriend's left, opting to watch the stars alongside her. "It's just that, you've seemed rather distracted over the last few days since we got back from Atlantis. And we were all wondering if something was bothering you."

Starfire sighed, and hung her head.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Robin stated. "I mean, if this has anything to do with my deal…"

"It's Starro."

Robin raised his eyebrow in confusion. "What about him?"

Starfire looked back up towards the stars. "I've been wondering what's happened to him since we left him in the Aquaman's custody."

Robin made a silent 'oh', thought to himself, and then nodded his head. "Well at this point, I'm sure the League's already made their decision on how to handle him this time."

Starfire sighed. "I know. But it's just, like he himself said, all he wanted was to return home, or at least achieve something as close to that as he could manage. And Raven and I, we both felt his pain over the whole matter while he was in the midst of subjecting us to that attack of telepathy. And Raven herself made it clear when I asked her about it yesterday that those emotions Starro was feeling on the matter were far too raw and unfiltered to indicate that he was lying when he said that he'd be entirely willing to drop his invasion schemes and wipe his hands of Earth entirely if he were to just somehow be sent back to his home planet like he originally wanted."

"That may be true," Robin admitted. He sighed, and shook his head side to side. "But regardless, he still was actively planning to subjugate Earth, and he was not at all unwilling to either kill us or have us transformed into abyssals for the sake of achieving that goal."

"I know," Starfire admitted sadly. "And I know that should make it easier for me to hate him. But even so, I still just can't help but feel sorry for him."

"I know." Robin nodded his head in agreement. "Believe me, as much as I used to believe before my time as Red X that the definition of good and evil was as simple as black and white, even I have to admit that, sometimes, life truly isn't that simple." He looked up towards the stars. "But hey, who knows? For all we know, the League may yet find some way to handle the whole business without being too harsh on him. After all, they did legitimately wish to send him home when he first landed here on Earth, and they were honestly hoping that they'd be able to find out his home planet themselves and eventually send him there while still frozen when they first defeated him back in 2010. Maybe now that we've finally managed to indirectly help them find him after we unwittingly gave him the keys to freedom after we dealt with Trident five years ago, they'll still be willing to finally honor that promise they made to return him home that those S.T.A.R. Labs scientists ended up unwittingly breaking for them. At the very least, it's certainly a comforting possibility to think about."

. . . . .

It was the combination of bright sunlight and the presence of water around him that awoke Starro. He slowly opened his single eye, half tired and half confused. Then he looked around, his confusion only strengthening as he realized that we was both no longer encased in ice and also now in an area that he knew for a _fact_ he hadn't been anywhere near when he'd earlier gone to sleep. "Where am I?"

He continued looking around, all without moving from his current position. And as he did so, he found himself getting increasingly confused and wary as he noticed that his current surroundings looked an awful lot as if he were somehow back on his home world. In fact, the very place he himself was now positioned seemed to look _exactly_ like the very area where he'd been at the moment of his unwilling departure all those years ago.

He shook his 'head' violently side to side, even slapping himself in the face with his 'arms' as he tried desperately to keep himself from immediately buying into the possibility of him indeed being finally back on his home planet after all this time. "This has to be a dream," he thought to himself. "It has to be." He opened his eye, now narrowed as he thought of another possibility. "Or maybe its some sort of illusion. Yes, an illusion to get me to lower my guard. Well if that's the case, nice try League, but that's not going to work on me!"

Several minutes passed in complete silence. Starro himself remained tensed up and on guard the entire time. "Any moment now," he thought to himself, eye open and on alert for any sign of some sort of undeniable proof that this was indeed either an illusion or dream. But an entire hour passed without any such sign showing up whatsoever. And as this happened, Starro found himself becoming increasingly desperate to avoid giving into the idea of this indeed being exactly what it looked like. "This isn't real," he thought to himself, even now no longer sounding 100% convinced. "I'm not truly back on my old home planet. I'm not! It's impossible! There's no way they'd have sent me back! There isn't!"

His mind wrestled in complete turmoil. On the one hand, all his prior experiences were enough to leave him understandably wary of this current situation looking more than a little too good to be true. And even now, his instincts were screaming at him to remind him that it was all too likely that this was indeed truly either a dream of a carefully crafted illusion, and that the League, and in fact the entirety of the inhabitants of Earth just simply could not be trusted as far as he was concerned. But on the other hand…what if this wasn't a dream or illusion? What if, despite having earlier broken their promise, unwittingly or not, to help him return, the League had indeed finally honored their old broken agreement with him and managed, despite all he'd done after choosing to act out on his rage over their seemingly betraying him, to successfully return him back home?

It was at that point he realized a way that would allow him to confirm without a doubt the true nature of what he was currently seeing around him; something that, ironically enough, his own currently highly guarded state of mind had prevented him from doing the instant he'd woken up. All he needed to do now was to extend his mental presence just the tiniest bit into actively telepathic mode, and he would know entirely for certain whether he was indeed truly home after all this time. For one last solid minute, he continued to resist doing so. After all, he had twice dared to hope that he'd manage to get himself back to his old home planet, and his hopes had been dashed both times; with the first time admittedly being entirely his own fault, and the second just as likely to have been an accident on the League's part as it was to have been on purpose. It was entirely possible, heartbreakingly so in fact, that this would be yet another case of false hope.

But he'd been wrong before.

With a deep breath, he activated his telepathy just enough for him to be able to detect the mental presence of others of his kind if he was indeed truly back on his old home, yet still kept himself guarded enough so that he himself wouldn't register to them, just in case. After a solid minute of detecting absolutely nothing, his eye widened when he finally detected the interconnected minds of countless others of his kind. In that instant, he _knew_ , that he was indeed truly home. For it was a well known fact among all who had experience with telepathy that no one could artificially recreate a mental presence.

In that instant, he tensed up, trying his best not to break down crying in tears of joy. As happy as he was, he still currently wished to maintain _some_ level of dignity. "I'm home," he thought to himself, a tiny part of him _still_ finding it hard to believe that this was in fact that case. "I'm home. I…I'm…" He sniffled, and then let a single manly tear slide out of his eye. "I'm home."

He managed to fully regain his composure, and then prepared to fully lower his guard and telepathically yell to let his presence be made known…only to then yawn privately to himself. In that moment, he realized that he was still feeling rather tired and could probably use a few more minutes of the nap he'd woken up from not too long ago.

"I'll still allow myself to be able to register on their telepathy network while sleeping," he silently vowed to himself as he slowly lowered himself back to fully lying down on his back so that he could resume his nap. It was only at this moment that he finally realized that, by sheer happenstance, he was lying down on literally the exact same stone where he'd been lying down upon at the moment of his abduction and unwilling departure from this planet. A smile came on his face, and then he slowly allowed his eye to close, ready to go back to sleep while simultaneously letting his telepathy activate to the point of the rest of his kind being able to detect him…

His eye snapped open, a wary look on his face as he once again stared skyward. There was only the bright sun and sky above him. But then again, there was no guarantee that this would remain the case later on.

He slid himself off of the stone and started digging a small burrow just deep and large enough for him to fit underneath the stone without being crushed. "Better safe than sorry," he thought to himself. Once he was finished, he slid himself under the stone. Then, and only then, did he both allow his telepathy to activate to the point of him registering on his kind's telepathic network and he himself to go back to sleep. After all, with how much time had passed between his initial unwilling departure and eventual completely unexpected successful return home, he certainly doubted that he could be _too_ careful in lowering his chances of the whole mess unfolding all over again.

 **The End**

 **And just like that, the story ends. I hope you all enjoyed what I had to offer with this story and that you continue to show the same support and love for my next story. I have to admit, I really had a lot of fun with this story (especially after seeing last year's Aquaman movie), and I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did writing it. All in all, thank you. And remember, this epilogue requires at least one review minimum before I allow the beginning of the next story to be posted. Once again, thank you.**

 **Next up on Teen Titans Season 6: What seems at first like a simple open and shut case in Africa turns out to be much more complicated when the Titans discover that Professor Chang is there and has managed to genetically modify an already deadly virus to be even more devastatingly so. But then things get even worse when, through a mixture of various unfortunate events and circumstances, Beast Boy finds himself having to both struggle to keep control of himself and his more animalistic and primal sides, and also face his past...in more ways than one.**


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